ATP Cincinnati: Daniil Medvedev matches Rafael Nadal to set Djokovic clash
Competing for the 13th time in the last 19 days, world no. 8 Daniil Medvedev took down Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-3 in swift 61 minutes for the third Masters 1000 semi-final, all in 2019. The finalist in Washington and Montreal played on a very high level once again against the compatriot who toppled Roger Federer on Thursday, dominating on both serve and return and controlling the scoreboard all the time to grab the 41st victory this season and match Rafael Nadal's tally. Both players served at 55% and Daniil delivered much better numbers behind the initial shot, playing against one break point and taking half of the return points for four breaks from seven opportunities. Medvedev finished the match with 15 winners and 11 unforced errors, nothing too big but good enough to leave Andrey far behind, as the younger Russian hit 16 winners and 26 unforced errors, 20 more than against Roger yesterday!
They stayed neck and neck in the shortest rallies up to four strokes and Daniil did his magic in the more extended ones, taking 28 out of 40 exchanges with at least five strokes to find himself over the top and set the semi-final clash with world no. 1 Novak Djokovic on Saturday. Rublev's forehand was nowhere near as good as versus the great Swiss, spraying an error from the stronger wing to suffer a break already in the second game of the match on Daniil's fourth break chance. Defending the baseline with power and accuracy, Medvedev drew another forehand error from Andrey in the third game to confirm the break, racing into a 4-0 lead after another forehand mistake from Rublev after just 13 minutes!
The younger Russian pulled one break back in the next game when Daniil's backhand found the net but that was all he could do, spraying, you guess, a forehand error at 2-5 to hand another break to the rival and the set after just 29 minutes. Medvedev held at the beginning of the second set and broke Rublev at love to confirm the victory, taking a set and a break advantage and serving well in the remaining four games to cross the finish line. Andrey reduced the deficit to 3-5 with a strong forehand before Medvedev sealed the deal with three service winners in the next game, preparing that Djokovic clash after yet another forehand error from Rublev in the last point.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2YTysnj
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