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By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday December 2, 2021

 
Daniil Medvedev

Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev tamed the brothers Ymer in Madrid to send Russia through to the semifinals.

Photo Source: Getty
 

Daniil Medvedev remained perfect in Davis Cup singles in 2021, defeating Sweden's Mikael Ymer 6-4 6-4 to send Russia to the semifinals in Madrid, where they will face Germany for a spot in the final.

Tennis Express

Medvedev’s victory came on the heels of Andrey Rublev’s 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(3) triumph over Elias Ymer, the older brother of Mikael.

Russia advances the final four for the second consecutive season and they will bid to win their third Davis Cup title this weekend in Madrid.


Sweden came up short in its bid to reach the Davis Cup semifinals for the first time since 2007, but captain Robin Soderling says he is proud of the effort his side put forth.

“Of course, I wanted to go further,” he said. “But if I look on all the matches, I'm proud of the boys. They did really well. They fought really hard. We lost some really tough matches. That's how it is. We didn't have the luck on our side, but overall they did a fantastic, fantastic job.”

It was a close call in the first rubber for Rublev, who nearly fell to Elias Ymer despite having dominated the opening set.

“I showed emotions that I shouldn't do. It's always takes time to recover these emotions,” Rublev said. “So basically, yeah, my level was here, his here. After the second set, we were equal. Plus he was believing in himself, he was going for the shots.

I was playing with a fear... I was showing emotions in beginning the third set. I said to myself, if I want to win, I need to change my attitude, I need to start to believe as well. If I want, I can win this match. It depends on me, it's not depending on him.

"In the end I make it on the tiebreak. This is the most important thing.”

Medvedev’s path to victory was less scenic. The 2021 US Open champion broke for 5-4 against Mikael Ymer, the World No.94, in the opening set and served it out in the next game.

In the second set Medvedev build a double break 3-0 lead, gave one of the breaks back, but held serve the rest of the way to clinch his sixth career Davis Cup singles victory.

Medvedev, 25, has yet to drop a set at Davis Cup this year.

“To be honest, I didn't serve as good as I wanted to today,” he said after the match. “Nine double-faults in 6-4, 6-4 is a lot. As you say, managed to get three points to the team out of three.

"Won all the sets I had to play, even if some of them were not easy. In general I feel like I'm doing what I have to, playing quite well. Yeah, the further you are in the tournament, the better you have to play, the better players you will face. That's what I need to do next times, just be even more confident and play even better.”


Semifinals set for Madrid

Croatia will meet Serbia on Friday, with the winners set to face either Russia or Germany, who meet on Saturday in Madrid.

 

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