Daniil Medvedev tames Reilly Opelka for Toronto title

TORONTO: Top seed Daniil Medvedev captured his fourth ATP Masters 1000 crown here on Monday (IST), overcoming American Reilly Opelka 6-4, 6-3 to become the first Russian champion at the National Bank Open since Marat Safin in 2000.

The 25-year-old took down big-server John Isner in the semifinals as he stood two or three feet closer to the baseline on return to counter the height and angle of the serve. Medvedev successfully repeated this against 6'11" Opelka, breaking twice as he won in 85 minutes.

"I could not have dreamt of [this] at one point," Daniil Medvedev said in his on-court interview. "With Masters, with Novak and Rafael playing, it seemed like an untouchable achievement. Now I have four wins in five finals, which is a good score. I am just happy. I want to achieve more. I am really happy I achieved this in Canada."

The world No. 2 has now won 12 tour-level titles, with 11 of those triumphs coming on hard courts. He owns a 4-1 record in Masters 1000 finals, also capturing trophies in Cincinnati, Shanghai and Paris, with his one defeat in a final coming in Montreal to Rafael Nadal in 2019. IANS

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