TURIN: After losing third-set tie-breaks in each of his ATP Finals matches last year, Daniil Medvedev bounced back with a 6-4, 6-2 victory against Andrey Rublev in his 2023 opener.
Medvedev saved seven break points in the opening set before dominating from the start in set two. The win extended Medvedev’s lead for most tour-level wins (65) and most hard-court wins (48) this season.
The straight-sets result moves the 2020 ATP Finals champion to the top of the Red Group, with Alexander Zverev also at 1-0 following his afternoon win against Carlos Alcaraz.
“I felt good and I managed to put it on the court. First set was really tough. I managed to just get a little bit the upper hand on the most clutch moments, and this helped me in the second, so I’m really happy,” Medvedev said after the match.
Monday’s result provided the perfect start in his bid to equal Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz on six tour-level titles on the year.
The opening set featured an endless supply of world-class baseline exchanges, Rublev fought off four early break points before dropping serve at 3-3 — a badly missed swinging volley on break point breaking the pattern of rock-solid tennis from both players for much of the set, reports ATP.
Rublev raised his level from there to threaten on return, but Medvedev summoned big serves time and again, ultimately closing out the set in a marathon six-deuce game.
In Set-Two Medvedev broke in the opening game and not facing a break point in closing out the victory.
Rublev will look to bounce back on Wednesday against Alcaraz. Medvedev will meet Zverev the same day with first place in the group on the line.
Moreover, Stefanos Tsitsipas is set to quit the ATP Finals on Tuesday after retiring from his match with Holger Rune early in the first set.
Sixth seed Tsitsipas was trailing 2-1 to Rune when he was forced to quit the Green Group match, handing the Finals debutant his first ever win in the season-ending tournament.
The Greek is now almost certain to withdraw, meaning Hubert Hurkacz will step in to play his final match against Novak Djokovic with no chance of progressing to the semi-finals following two defeats. Agencies
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