Tennis News • Medvedev Beats Zverev For Paris Title, London @ The 02 Arena ATP Championship Finals Next

By Ricky Dimon

Daniil Medvedev has been human throughout the 2020 campaign, but the 2019 version of Medvedev that was half-man, half-machine appears to be back on display.

Finally playing his first final of this whole year, Medvedev captured the third Masters 1000 title of his career by beating Alexander Zverev 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 at the Rolex Paris Masters on Sunday afternoon. The Russian was brilliant over the final two sets to triumph in two hours and seven minutes.

Medvedev’s second Masters title also came at Zverev’s expense last fall in Shanghai, but the German still led the head-to-head series 5-1 heading into this one. Zverev was additionally confident from a 12-match winning streak that was highlighted by two Cologne titles. The world No. 7 maintained his momentum early, taking a tough opening set with the first break of the match when his opponent served at 5-6.

Set two was an absolute battle despite the relatively routine 6-4 scoreline. Zverev survived a marathon service game by saving four break points for 2-1 and he eventually put himself two games from victory at 4-3. However, Medvedev’s level was only getting better and better and a turning point seemed to be only a matter of time.

It came in the ninth game, when Medevev’s first break of the day gave him a 5-4 advantage. The No. 3 seed served out the set at love one game later.

Due to having won so many matches, Zverev had played a ton of recent tennis and he also needed three hours to defeat Adrian Mannarino earlier this week. The 23-year-old was already wearing down at the end of set two and he did not come close to recovering in the decider. Medvedev broke right away for 1-0, broke again en route to a 4-0 lead, and capped off his comeback with another break at 5-1–donated by a Zverev double-fault on championship point.

“It is great; I am really happy,” Medvedev said. “I don’t show this after the match, but I am really happy to win matches. Before the tournament, I was not in my best form…with zero finals this year. I was complaining to my wife like, ‘Oh my god, I don’t have the level. I don’t even have one final. I am playing so bad.’ Finally, I am the winner of Bercy, a tournament that I love.”

“Credit to him; he’s a great player,” Zverev praised. “It’s his first tournament win of the season. I know his season wasn’t the easiest one, whereas I have to say my season is actually going quite well.

“We will see how it goes with London. I’m happy with my tennis. I just need to maybe recover a little bit physically.”

Both Zverev and Medvedev will head to the Nitto ATP Finals in a week’s time. Zverev was the 2018 champion inside London’s O2 Arena, while Medvedev went 0-3 in round-robin action during his 2019 debut.

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

Editors Note: This is our first year missing the ATP year end finals. We have maybe Alix Ramsay going for a day or so. But most of our team has virtual media credentials. Strange to think this is the last year the event is being held at the London 02 arena. It was literally a perfect event from the beginning. The thought and planning was brilliant. Well done Chris Kermode and team. • The boat rides up and down the Thames were awesome. As was the hospitality for players and their teams. In a league of its own. (LJ)