By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Saturday, February 15, 2025
Hamad Medjedovic shredded top-seeded Daniil Medvedev to become the first Serbian to reach the Marseille final where he will face defending champion Ugo Humbert.
Photo credit: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty
Thwarted by a Hamad Medjedovic drop shot, a frustrated Daniil Medvedev splattered his Tecnifibre racquet off the court.
Playing shrewd, sharp angles, Medjedovic made Medvedev lose his grip in a masterful all-court performance.
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The 21-year-old Medjedovic shredded the top-seeded Medvedev 6-3, 6-2 becoming the first Serbian to reach the Marseille final.
It is the first career Top-10 win for Medjedovic and comes a couple of weeks after his previous best win (by ranking) when he toppled No. 12 Holger Rune in Davis Cup.
The 2021 champion Medvedev was bidding to win the same tournament title twice for the first time in his career. All 20 of Medvedev’s Tour-level titles have come in 20 different cities.
While denying Medvedev’s quest, Medjedovic moved within one win of his first ATP championship.
The victory vaults Medjedovic to a career-high ranking of No. 72—and into tomorrow’s final against second-seeded Frenchman Ugo Humbert.
Defending champion Humbert won 29 of 35 first-serve points and saved the only break point he faced sweeping Zizou Bergs 6-4, 6-4 to continue his homeland dominance indoors.
The left-handed Humbert is now 17-1 in his last 18 matches played indoors on home soil. That superb surge includes title runs at 2023 Metz and 2024 Marseille as well as his maiden ATP Masters 1000 final at the Rolex Paris Masters last November. Humbert is playing for his ninth career crown.
The final marks the first meeting between Medjedovic and Humbert.
Today, Medjedovic dropped serve to open the match then dropped the hammer on Medvedev.
Exploiting the Russian’s trademark deep return position, Medjedovic managed the court cleverly. Medjedovic used the sharp slice serve, often short in the box, to drag the former US Open champion off the court and open space for his first strike.
Medjedovic broke back and staved off three break points to confirm the break for 2-1.
Serving in the eighth game, Medvedev was forced to scrape some short angled shots as he faced a break point. Throughout the match, Medjedovic was superior in the front court. He dragged Medvedev forward, drew a netted volley and broke for 5-3.
A disgusted Medvedev splattered his Tecnifibre racquet off the court.
Deploying the drop shot successfully again, Medjedovic had Medvedev tossing his racquet around again as he served out the set in 39 minutes.
A dour Medvedev tried to reset, but Medjedovic broke at 30 to start the second set.
Court positioning was one issue for Medvedev today, a bigger challenge was the fact he struggled to generate free points off his first serve. Medvedev hit only two aces, faced 10 break points, dropped serve five times and won only four of 17 second-serve points.
If Medvedev isn’t going to improve his net play, then he must serve with more command than he did today.
A free-flowing Medjedovic slid his sixth ace extending his lead to 5-1 just 25 minutes into the second set.
On his first match point, Medjedovic double faulted deep.
On match point No. 2, Medjedovic sliced his seventh ace down the T closing a masterful 72-minute conquest.