By Erik Gudris | @ATNTennis | Tuesday, June 8, 2021
Stefanos Tstisipas proved too good for Daniil Medvedev despite the Russian throwing in an underarm serve while down match point.
Photo Source: Getty .
The match point in the quarterfinal between No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev and No. 5 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas will be the most remembered of this anticipated encounter. Yet it was Tsitsipas' overall strong play throughout that earned him another berth into the last four of Roland-Garros.
Tsitsipas secured a 6-3, 7-6(3), 7-5 victory over his opponent on an empty Court Philippe-Chatrier to place himself into a semifinal meeting with No. 6 seed Alexander Zverev. But Medvedev stole the show with his unexpected underarm serve down match point.
"Yeah, I was thinking about it during the whole match, like that maybe in the important point I could do it because my opinion that he was quite far back in the court, so that can always work," Medvedev explained after that match.
Tsitsipas, who casually smacked Medvedev's serve to close out his victory in two hours and 19 minutes, also dismissed Medvedev's tactic in the press room.
"A very millennial shot. So true," he said with a smile in his virtual press conference. "Well, once he took kind of like a short break, I saw he kind of stopped. I felt like there was something coming up, so at that point I think I got prepared for it, yeah. Is that like, less of a second when you realize something is about to change from a regular, and yeah, it was fine. I mean, I had what I had to do."
Medvedev entered this quarterfinal owning a clear 6-1 head to head advantage over his opponent. Having entered the tournament as an afterthought, toting a lifetime record of 0-4 at Roland Garros, the Russian's solid play in Paris through four rounds had caused speculation that Tsitsipas might be in for a tough test.
Tsitsipas, the Monte-Carlo champion in April and the ATP's top win producer in 2021, proved he was in solid form when he faced the Russian this time.
Many expected this to be a contentious match between the two rivals based on a heated incident that occurred after their first meeting in Miami in 2018, but the lack of a crowd due to the 9 P.M. Paris curfew emphasized the two players' shotmaking and not any personal differences.
Tsitsipas took control early in the first set and was never really challenged by his opponent. With a swing forehand winner, Tsitsipas clinched the opening set 6-3.
Medvedev found his way midway through the second set and appeared poised to make the match an extended battle. Though he fell behind an early break, he managed to break back and pull even for 3-all.
Late in the set, Medvedev found himself up 5-4 and held two set points on Tsitsipas' serve. Yet, errant returns from the Russian would cost him dearly. Medvedev sent one backhand return into the net. Medvedev dealt with a let cord off of a Tsitsipas shot by sending a forehand wide on his second set point.
Soon enough, Tsitsipas held for 5-all.
The second set ended up in a tiebreak that Tsitsipas controlled from start to finish to take a commanding two sets to love lead.
Tsitsipas resumed control in the final set. That was despite the Greek hitting a bit of a plateau in terms of his overall shotmaking.
In the third set, Medvedev started a conversation with the chair umpire about a previous line call. That appeared to be an attempt to generate some energy in a night match that included no spectators.
Tsitsipas soon held for 6-5 and looked ready to force another tiebreak. Medvedev jumped out to a 40-0 lead in the next game. Clever play from Tsitsipas, including up at net, brought things back to deuce.
Tsitsipas soon held a match point. That was when Medvedev decided to pull out the surprise underarm serve.
"I didn't see the opportunity before, and this one I felt that he was kind of on top of me, so I thought it's going to be a good choice to bring him a surprise," Medvedev would later say.
Tsitsipas was not fazed at all—he cracked a return winner past Medvedev to seal the straight-sets victory and his third consecutive trip to a Grand Slam semifinal.