Resilient Daniil Medvedev continues bid to defend title, downs Stefanos Tsitsipas to make 2023 Vienna Open final

Daniil Medvedev has prevailed over Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach the final at the 2023 Vienna Open and continue his efforts to defend the ATP 500 title.

The top seed endured a closely contested semi-final match against the World No. 7, ultimately securing a straight-sets win, 6-4, 7-6 (6). Prior to this clash, Medvedev defeated Arthur Fils in straight sets before overcoming three-set battles against both Grigor Dimitrov and Karen Khachanov.

The match was tight from the start, with Tsitsipas getting two break points in the Russian's second service game. However, Medvedev was able to take it to a deuce where he fended off another break point and held to keep the set on serve.

Medvedev found his chance at 3-3, building up two break points of his own. While Tsitsipas fought back to save the first one, the Greek player proceeded to hit the ball long on the next point, giving Medvedev a crucial break.

While Tsitsipas continued to play strongly, he was unable to catch his opponent and it wasn't long before Medvedev successfully served for the set. The fourth seed was far from done though and came back to make the second set an even tighter clash.

Medvedev did have a chance to break at 3-3 again after the chair umpire delayed Tsitsipas' serve to scold a photorapher sitting in the wrong place. This appeared to interrupt the 25-year-old's rhythm, but he managed to bring it back and hold.

Eventually, a tiebreak was required to decide the second set. Medvedev secured the first mini break to lead 5-3, but Tsitsipas won it back before a double fault from the 27-year-old leveled the tie at 5-5. Nevertheless, Medvedev pushed ahead to 6-5, and after failing to convert match point the first time, secured another point for 7-6.

This was followed by an error from Tsitsipas which saw the defending champion book his place in the final, where he will face the winner of the clash between Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev.