Fifth seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia beat 23rd seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 6-3 7-5 in the quarterfinal of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Wednesday. The 27-year-old Russian thus kept hopes of his fourth title of the year alive and improved his record to 23-2 in 2023.
He will face Frances Tiafoe of the United States in the first semifinal on Saturday. The Russian will start as the favourite against the hard-hitting American as well, given the kind of from he is in at the moment.
Daniil Medvedev Ousts Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Indian Wells
Daniil Medvedev played the angles really well in the first set:
Daniil Medvedev was off to a great start, winning the first three games of the match. He played the angled shots really well to keep moving Davidovich Fokina from side to side and the Spaniard struggled to deal with that. There were also a lot of crosscourt backhand exchanges between the two, but the Spaniard committed a plethora of unforced errors, especially off his backhand.
Davidovich Fokina started rushing the net more often as the match progressed to take the attack to the Russian and also hit some volley winners. However, it was not often easy to get past Medvedev’s defence even from the forecourt.
Moreover, Davidovich Fokina’s return of serve was not strong enough to put pressure on the Russian’s serve. Hence, he could not break the Russian even once and Medvedev had no problem winning the first set.
Daniil Medvedev imparted some top spin into his forehand quite uncharacteristically:
Medvedev, who is known for hitting his groundstrokes flat, imparted some top spin into his forehand on Wednesday and his crosscourt forehand often tested Davidovich Fokina’s court coverage.
However, the Spaniard often tested his opponent with drop shots to drag the latter into the net, but Medvedev’s movement was exemplary as usual. Still, both players managed to hold on to their serve for the first 10 games of the second set, only for the Russian to break his opponent in the 11th and then serve out the match. Davidovich Fokina was more disciplined with his groundstrokes in the second set than in the first.
Medvedev won 85% and 71% of the points on his first and second serve, respectively, in the match, while Davidovich Fokina managed only 65% and 48%, respectively.
Main Photo Credit: Andy Abeyta/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK
