Medvedev and Shapovalov through in Marseille

Thursday, 20 February 2020 at 19:50

Both Medvedev and Shapovalov had to go the full distance to overcome their opponents but their succeed and found themselves among the last 8 in Marseille.

Since reaching the final in Paris at the end of last season Shapovalov has yet to find the form that enabled him to do it. He wasn't very good in Australia and the indoor hard court season isn't going much better for him. Today he faced Cilic who is slowly getting into playing shape and while he defeated him it wasn't smooth.

He won the 1st set 6-4 by simply being better on his serve. He hit it at a better rate than Cilic and won more of his points on it. The Croatian was a bit sloppy and failed to save the 3rd breakpoint he allowed. It proved key and he lost the set because of it. Cilic was able to fight back in the 2nd winning it 6-4. His play wasn't much better than in the 1st but he was clinical when it mattered the most.

He saved all four break points he allowed and broke his opponent in the crucial moment to capture the 2nd set. He did play better on his 1st serve which also helped. Ironically for the Croatian, her served the best in the 3rd set but it was by far the worst he played. While he hit 81 % of his 1st serves he was terrible in the rallies. Shapovalov had no problems taking advantage of it. He closed out the match with a 6-2 3rd set victory after 120 minutes of play.

Medvedev - Sinner

Another brilliant match the Marseille crowd got to see was between Sinner and Medvedev. The Italian was brilliant in the 1st serve hitting his serves and his baseline strokes. Medvedev had a lot of trouble with pretty much every part of his game. He was ill-prepared and he missed a lot of easy shots. He was much better going forward.

Medvedev figured out his opponent and completely changed the script of the match. Sinner won only 3 games in the rest of the match. Medvedev still wasn't serving very well but he was much better reading his opponent and choosing his spots on the court. Physicality also proved key as Medvedev was much better prepared physically.

Sinner is a youngster who still hasn't grown into his body fully and it showed. He was quite depleted by the end of the match and an improved serve by Medvedev closed out the match. Medvedev keeps hopes of the new title alive in Marseille but it will only get tougher from now on.

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