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Daniil Medvedev confirmed additional indicators of enchancment on the Western & Southern Open Thursday, when he backed up his opening-round win over Botic van de Zandschulp with a victory in opposition to dynamic lefty Denis Shapovalov.
The 26-year-old overcame Canadian Shapovalov 7-5, 7-5 in a single hour and 45 minutes to achieve his second ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season. The highest seed suffered a disappointing second-round loss in opposition to Nick Kyrgios in Montreal final week, however he’s wanting again to his finest on the courts in Cincinnati.
Medvedev hit his flat backhand with consistency, whereas he stood deep behind the baseline on return to take in Shapovalov’s lefty serve and penetrating forehand, bettering to 3-2 of their ATP Head2Head sequence.
“The match was fairly tight. I felt that it was an ideal stage. I felt that he was lacking a bit greater than me however making extra factors, however that’s how Shapo performs,” Medvedev mentioned in his on-court interview. “My objective was to remain there each level attainable and try to put strain on him after I had the prospect. However there have been many factors the place I used to be simply working throughout the baseline, attempting to get again his pictures. Typically proud of the extent.”
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The 14-time tour-level titlist will subsequent play American Taylor Fritz after the Indian Wells champion edged Andrey Rublev in three units.
“Taylor is a good participant. We now have hit fairly just a few instances. Earlier than ATP Cup we had a session and I believe he beat me, which doesn’t actually matter, however I mentioned to my coach, ‘Wow he can play rather well, it may be a great 12 months for him.’ Then he received Indian Wells,” Medvedev mentioned. “Perhaps he might have accomplished higher at another tournaments, however he’s a Masters [1000] champion. He’s a tremendous participant and I must be at my finest to try to beat him.”
Along with his victory, Medvedev has improved his document in Ohio to 13-4. The 26-year-old lifted his maiden Masters 1000 crown on the hard-court occasion in 2019, earlier than he loved a run to the semi-finals final season. He’s trying to seize his second title of the season this week, after triumphing in Los Cabos earlier this month.
Medvedev can also be ensured of his No. 1 standing within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings till at the very least after the US Open following Rafael Nadal’s second-round defeat in opposition to Borna Coric on Wednesday.
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In a hard-fought first conflict, Shapovalov repeatedly tried to drag Medvedev across the courtroom, dancing across the ball to strike his forehand into the corners. Nevertheless, the highest seed has grow to be famend for having the ability to dig deep and absorb strain and that was on present throughout the important thing moments.
Medvedev pressured Shapovalov to overhit through the eleventh sport of the primary set as he gained the decisive break, earlier than the strain overwhelmed Shapovalov once more through the latter phases of the second set, when Medvedev’s watertight groundstrokes pressured the Canadian to make one error to many on serve at 5-5. Medvedev then swept by his closing service sport to advance.
Medvedev’s defensive expertise pissed off Shapovalov all through the match and is proven in his INSIGHTS: Steal Score. The highest seed received 39 per cent of factors when defending, effectively above the Tour common of 34 per cent. This was in distinction to Shapovalov, who earned simply 23 per cent of factors when on the again foot.
Shapovalov earned consecutive wins for the primary time since Might when he defeated Tommy Paul to achieve the third spherical in Cincinnati. Nevertheless, he was unable to hit by Medvedev and advance to the quarter-finals for the primary time in Ohio.
from Tennis – ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/jvhWaB7
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