Ruthless Daniil 💥 2019 champion @DaniilMedwed pushes past Taylor Fritz 7-6(1) 6-3 to reach the semis at #CincyTennis
Daniil Medvedev did not have a single break point in the opening set but he won it and cruised from there against Fritz to book a semi-final in Cincinnati 7-6(1) 6-3.
Medvedev's first ATP 1000 trophy came at the Western & Southern Open and he's certainly looking strong this year as well. It's not his best tennis, actually far from it but he's still good enough to take a player whose play was on a pretty consistent top 10-worthy level in front of his native fans. In the first set, Fritz was able to create break points despite not being objectively better.
It was a close one and Medvedev played really well but so did Fritz. A couple of good rallies gave the American break points in several games and one of those was even a set point. He would use neither of those and get to the tiebreak where he fell apart.
7-1 was the score for Medvedev who kept applying pressure early in the 2nd set and the American fell apart once more. A huge rally on break point finished with an unforced error from Fritz after the Russian got every single ball back. The American could only smile as he stared his demise in the face.
A few drops of rain briefly stopped play but it continued and Medvedev had no issues to close it out. Just a really complete match from the Russian who served better and played better. Having more winners and fewer unforced errors only helped.
Ruthless Daniil 💥 2019 champion @DaniilMedwed pushes past Taylor Fritz 7-6(1) 6-3 to reach the semis at #CincyTennis