Tennis • Medvedev Beats Tsitsipas (Again!), Zverev Also Advances to Shanghai Final

By Ricky Dimon

Beating Stefanos Tsitsipas apparently does not get old for Daniil Medvedev, and neither does making finals.

Medvedev improved to 5-0 lifetime against Tsitsipas and moved into a sixth consecutive title match with a 7-6(5), 7-5 victory in the semifinals of the Rolex Shanghai Masters on Saturday afternoon. The Russian, who is coming off a runner-up showing at the U.S. Open and a title in St. Petersburg, prevailed in one hour and 36 minutes.

“Making six in a row–including three Masters 1000s and one Grand Slam–is something I could never dream of, to be honest,” said Medvedev, whose surge began in Washington, D.C. “But I want to keep the momentum going and hope I can make it to seven or eight.”

Tsitsipas’ Shanghai run may be over, but not before he upset world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals, officially qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals, and tested the hottest player on tour in an extremely tight match.

“To be honest, I really felt good today and I felt like I could win this match,” the seventh-ranked Greek commented. “I felt good, actually; I didn’t feel bad. Today I actually felt the most comfortable among the other times that I played against him. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to beat him the next time or the time after that one, but I know there’s going to be a time where I’m going to find opportunities and beat him. I don’t know when it’s going to come. Probably two, three, four, five, six years’ time, I don’t know, but it’s going to come at some point.”

It is now up to Medvedev to reverse head-to-head futility, as he is 0-4 lifetime against final opponent Alexander Zverev heading into Sunday. Zverev, already a three-time Masters 1000 champion at 22 years old, beat Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-4.

“It feels great, obviously,” the sixth-ranked German said. “I [feel] like I’ve played some decent tennis this week and being in a Masters 1000 final here in Shanghai is also something very special for me. I’m looking forward to it and hopefully I can play some good tennis tomorrow.”

Draw
Daniil Medvedev…..bye…..d. Norrie…..d. Pospisil…..d. Fognini…..d. Tsitsipas
Alexander Zverev…..bye…..d. Chardy…..d. Rublev…..d. Federer…..d. Berrettini

Seeds
1. Novak Djokovic: l. to Tsitsipas in QF
2. Roger Federer: l. to Zverev in QF
3. Daniil Medvedev: vs. Zverev in F4. Dominic Thiem: l. to Berrettini in QF5. Alexander Zverev: vs. Medvedev in F
6. Stefanos Tsitsipas: l. to Medvedev in SF
7. Karen Khachanov: l. to Fognini in R3
8. Roberto Bautista Agut: l. to Berrettini in R39. Gael Monfils: l. to Hurkacz in R210. Fabio Fognini: l. to Medvedev in QF11. Matteo Berrettini: l. to Zverev in SF
12. Borna Coric: l. to Rublev in R1
13. David Goffin: l. to Federer in R3
14. Diego Schwartzman: l. to Pospisil in R115. Nikoloz Basilashvili: l. to. Thiem in R3
16. John Isner: l. to Djokovic in R3

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.