Mastering Rune, Medvedev says, is tough to play beautifully, reaching Indian Wells SFs.
At the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday, Daniil Medvedev played some of his greatest tennis to advance to his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal since Rome in May of last year.The 28-year-old seldom missed a shot as he kept his composure to defeat seventh-seeded Holger Rune 7-5, 6-4 in an exciting one-hour and fifty-nine-minute match.
The fourth-ranked player in the PIF ATP Rankings, who advanced to the Indian Wells championship match last year, alternated between returning to a deep position outside the baseline and then stepping up his game during rallies. 62 percent of Medvedev’s second-serve return points were won.
Rune frequently approached the net in an effort to attack Medvedev’s deep positioning, but the 20-time tour-level champion was able to avoid the Dane or quickly chase down any ball.
diffcult circumstances. It was quite windy, especially during the first set, according to Medvedev. Let’s call it what it is: playing beautifully is hard. Gaining another point is all that is required of you. I’m glad that, in the end, I was able to provide some solid serves at crucial times and just slightly increase my solidity. I’m relieved to have made it past the following round.
Three serve breaks occurred in a tumultuous opening set as both players produced excellent performances. However, Rune missed two easy shots—an overhead and a forehand in the middle of the court—on consecutive back-to-back points after serving a critical deuce opportunity at 5-5. Then, Medvedev clung to love to take a one-set lead.
After a poor start in the second, Medvedev rallied to win three straight games, starting at 0-2. Rune, who made 41 unintentional mistakes during the game, was annoyed with his consistency, according to Infosys ATP Stats. Six-time Masters 1000 champion Medvedev even came back from a 0/30 hole to take the lead in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Rune, winning 2-1.
Medvedev will play home favorite and 17th seed Tommy Paul in the final four. Paul defeated Caster Ruud in three sets on Thursday.Tommy possesses incredible strength. Regarding World No. 12, whom he has defeated in both of their encounters, Medvedev stated that he has been [around] the Top 10 for a long time. I know that in order to try to win, I need to play at my very best, so that’s what I’m going to try to do. He’s playing great.
With a 13-2 season record, Medvedev hopes to win all of the hard-court ATP Masters 1000 events to complete the set. His goal is to become the sixth straight first-time Indian Wells champion in the history of the competition.
