Stefanos Tsitsipas has yet to figure how to crack the code of Daniil Medvedev. The 23-year-old Russian, once again, got the best of Tsitsipas on the tennis court. Third-seeded Medvedev beat the sixth-seeded Tsitsipas in a tight 7-6(5) 7-5 contest in last night’s Shanghai semifinal. This contest brought Medvedev’s head-to-head over Tsitsipas to 5-0.
The first set was a closely contested battle that favored the server. There were only three break points in the entire first set. Daniil Medvedev had trouble finding his serve in the 9th game (4-4). Down 0-30 in the 9th game, Medvedev double faulted to give Tsitsipas 3 chances to take the control of the set. Medvedev was able to win 5 straight service points to go up 5-4. This set went to a tiebreak after going to 6-6 in the first 12 games. The pivotal points came in the 11th and 12th points of the tiebreak. At 5-5 all in the tiebreak, Medvedev won back to back points. Tsitsipas had a couple of unforced errors that Medvedev was able to take advantage of to win the 1st set 7-6 (5).
Daniil Medvedev was able to jump out to a lead early in the 2nd set. With Tsitsipas serving in the 4th service game of the set (Medvedev up 2-1), Daniil was finally able to break. Medvedev secured the break with sweet passing shots (one forehand, one backhand) in the last 2 points of the game. Daniil Medvedev cruised through his service games, dropping just 3 points on serve in the 2nd set, before the 10th game of the 2nd set. With his back against the wall, Tsitsipas was able to break at 15 to tie the 2nd set at 5-5. Medvedev went down 0-40, but he was unable to serve his way out like he did in Set #1. Tsitsipas promptly lost serve the next game to go down 5-6 in the 2nd. Daniil Medvedev then won his service game at love to clinch a spot into the Shanghai Final.
After a rough start to his Asian swing, Tsitsipas has had a couple of big wins. He was forced to retire in his first match after getting bounced in the 1st round of the US Open by Andrey Rublev. In Zhuhai, he retired against Adrian Mannarino after splitting the first 2 sets in Round 1. However, his performances in Beijing and Shanghai were strong. Tsitsipas went to the final of Beijing by defeating John Isner and Alexander Zverev in the quarters and semis, respectively. While he lost the final to Dominic Thiem, it was an impressive week that put the bad U.S. Open memories behind him. He followed it up with a trip to the semifinal of the Shanghai Masters, beating Felix Auger-Aliassime in Round 1 and Novak Djokovic in the quarters.
Daniil Medvedev will take on Alexander Zverev in the Shanghai Masters final. Medvedev has been on a roll in recent months, making 6 straight hard-court finals. He has won 16 straight sets since losing the US Open final to Rafael Nadal. Medvedev beat Borna Coric in his last final, winning St. Petersburg with a routine 6-3 6-1 victory. He has gone 3-5 in finals this season and looks to win back-to-back tournaments for the first time in his ATP Tour career.
Main Photo from Getty.
