Daniil Medvedev wins 2023 Rome Open

Daniil Medvedev proved everybody and himself wrong by winning his first Masters on clay beating Holger Rune in the final 7-5 7-5.

The Russian never expected to become a great clay player because he quite simply hates the surface. Prior to this year, Medvedev admitted that he was going to try and become good on it and it didn't take him long. Some promising showings earlier in the season culminated with a perfect performance in Rome as he will leave with the trophy.

The final wasn't an easy one, he faced a superb rising player who can play really well on clay. After all, this was the second ATP 1000 final for Rune on clay this year. Unfortunately for him, it's also the second loss. This one was an interesting one as Rune missed out a on pretty big chance to break early.

He didn't and Medvedev ultimately broke late to take the opening set 7-5.

The Russian served better and he had more winners which helped. In the second set, Rune found ways to outplay Medvedev.

He took an early 2-0 lead but then gave it back. He held a 5-3 lead as well with a chance to serve out the match at 5-4 but got broken.

After that, it was collapse city as he lost two more games to lose the set 5-7. Not bad from Rune overall but he really missed his serve in this one. Only 49 % of his first serve were hit and that's quite low against a player who doesn't give too many free and easy points.