Daniil Medvedev was debut at the ATP Finals a season ago, London ended without a single win. But now he is advancing to the top party unbeaten.
Entering the semifinals of the ATP Finals in the 2020 season, Rafael Nadal has the opportunity to win the semifinals in straight sets, but the Russian national refused to give up and fought hard to win 3-6, 7-6, 6-3.
Ensuring that he qualifies for the top of the ATP Finals, the nine-winning streak will challenge Dominic Thiem for the season-ending tournament title. To date, Thiem has outperformed the Russian national by 3-1, including winning their last meeting at the US Open this season.
“I felt really weird up to 4-5 in the second set, when he would serve to win the match,” admitted Daniil Medvedev.
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“It felt like I shot an incredible shot, but something was missing in my game and that’s why I lost (in the second set). He is better in the important moments, while I cannot return at the crucial moments or produce impressive shots.”
“I decided to change a few small things. I felt like I had a chance to win a few games, maybe a set as well, but it didn’t work, so I had to change it and it worked really well. I’m very happy about that.”
The Russian national could become the fourth player to win the season-ending tournament after being winless on her tournament debut.
World number 4 and world number 3 Thiem beat Nadal and Novak Djokovic respectively this week. For the world number 4 that the win this time is the first in four meetings against Nadal, who also lost to Thiem in the group stage.
Last season at the same tournament, Nadal secured match point chances and came back from 1-5 in the final set of the group stage to beat the Russian national.
One season after that match, the 2020 Paris Masters champions looked unlikely to push through with the deciding set after Nadal had a match point chance at 5-4 in the second set, but instead he made a mistake that the Russian national did not waste on getting back on his feet.
The world number 2 is trying to change his strategy to frustrate the 2019 US Open runners-up, But the Spaniard was stuck looking for answers, while the world number 4 remained in his comfort zone, including landing 13 aces and winning 77 per cent of points on his first serve.
