By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday October 12, 2019
Daniil Medvedev improved to 5-0 lifetime against Stefanos Tsitsipas and booked his spot in the Shanghai final on Saturday.
Photo Source: Getty
Another day, another win.
The victories just keep coming for Russia’s Daniil Medvedev and Saturday in Shanghai was no exception. The 23-year-old World No.4 continued his torrid tennis with a 7-6(5) 7-5 takedown of Stefanos Tsitsipas to book a spot in the Shanghai final.
Medvedev, who has now won 28 of his last 31 matches since the North American hard court swing began, has reached six consecutive finals. He will face either Alexander Zverev or Matteo Berretini in Sunday's final.
Medvedev was tested early and often by Tsitsipas in a battle of the ATP’s top two hard court win producers of 2019, and he had to rally from 0-40 down in the ninth game of the first set but came through admirably, producing two unreturnable serves to get to 30-40 before forcing an error with a well-executed serve-plus-forehand combo to get to deuce.
He won the next two points to hold and later secured the crucial mini-break at 5-5 in the tiebreaker when Tsitsipas sailed an off-balance forehand well wide of the court to hand Medvedev a set point.
Tsitsipas missed with the backhand on the next point, and Medvedev had stretched his streak of tiebreakers won in succession to 11.
The 23-year-old kept pushing and broke for 2-1 in the second set with a wicked backhand pass from the backcourt. It was one of many brilliant passing shots that Medvedev executed over the course of the 96-minute contest.
With 15 consecutive sets in tow, Medvedev did struggle a bit to earn No.16 at the finish line. He faltered when serving for the match at 5-4 and fell behind 0-40 for the second time in the match.This time, Tsitsipas made good on his opportunity as Medvedev air-mailed a forehand at 15-40 to bring the set level at 5-all.
But Tsitsipas’ momentum would be short-lived. The Greek fell behind at 5-5, 15-40 and Medvedev broke through to take a 6-5 lead with a deep forehand return that forced a shanked forehand error from Tsitsipas.
Medvedev wasted no time on his second opportunity to serve the match out. He held at love, smashing a forehand crosscourt winner to close out his fifth consecutive victory over his rival.
Medvedev finished with 25 winners against 18 unforced errors, while Tsitsipas compiled 24 winners and 31 unforced errors. The pair were dead even in rallies that lasted five or more strokes (25-25) but Medvedev held the 50-40 edge in points that lasted four strokes or less.
Medvedev improves to 58-17 on the season and 45-9 on hard courts. He is into his ninth ATP final of the season, and sixth of the last two and a half months.