Daniil Medvedev joins Karen Khachanov and Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sofia
The fourth edition of the Sofia Open will take place in the Bulgarian capital between February 4-10 next year and it promises to be the strongest one so far, with seven top-30 players already signed to play in the week after the Davis Cup Qualifiers. The home hero Grigor Dimitrov will not be in Sofia, missing the event like in 2016 and 2018 but the crowd will be able to watch some of the finest players ranked just outside the top-100, with Karen Khachanov, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Nikoloz Basilashvili, Fernando Verdasco, Gael Monfils, Roberto Bautista Agut and the three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka who already confirmed their participation.
Now, the organizers have managed to sign another great youngster who had a rock solid 2018 season, adding the 22-year-old Russian Daniil Medvedev as the seventh competitor from the top-30! Medvedev was ranked outside the top-60 when the season started, losing in the opening round of Playford Challenger before going all the way in Sydney as a qualifier for his maiden ATP title, beating Alex de Minaur in a thrilling title match. After reaching the quarter-final in Rotterdam, Daniil managed to win back-to-back main draw matches only thrice but that all changed in Winston-Salem, lifting the second ATP title and dropping no sets in six matches.
Borna Coric stopped him in the third round of the US Open and he suffered a tight loss to Dominic Thiem in St. Petersburg before finding his 'A game' again in Tokyo, qualifying for the main draw (he didn't sign in time) to wrap up all five wins in straight sets for his third title of the year and the first at ATP 500 level, scoring a dominant win over Kei Nishikori in the final. Karen Khachanov and Roger Federer halted him in the semi-final in Moscow and Basel but Medvedev did more than enough to crack the top-20 and finish the season there, winning 43 matches overall including the Tour leading 38 on hard courts.
Daniil will kick off 2019 season in Brisbane and Sydney before heading to Melbourne where he will seek the first big result in Majors. It is yet uncertain who will play for Russia in the Davis Cup against Switzerland but with or without that Medvedev will be among the favorites in Sofia, especially if he shows the level we have already seen from him on an indoor court in Tokyo where he dominated with his serve and forehand to leave all the rivals far behind. Mirza Basic and Marius Copli were the finalists in Sofia this year but it is hard to expect something like that again in two months time with so many good players already signed to compete.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2Bj0tWP
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