Medvedev overcomes Berrettini to keep Russia’s semis hopes alive

Medvedev has won 2 of his 3 singles matches at the ATP Cup this week as Russia chase a semi-final berth in Sydney

Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in action during his group stage match at the ATP Cup Image Credit: AI / Reuters / Panoramic

January 6, 2022

World No 2 Daniil Medvedev scored a confidence-boosting three-set win over Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini at the ATP Cup in Sydney on Thursday to keep Russia’s hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals alive.

Italy took a 1-0 lead in the tie as 20-year-old Jannik Sinner saved set points in the first set to beat 167th ranked Roman Safiullin 7-6, 6-3 in one hour and 56 minutes after which Medvedev and Berrettini took the court for their match.

Medvedev starts strong with a brilliant first set

Medevdev started the match on a strong footing, breaking Berrettini’s powerful first serve to go up 3-0. The Russian stood far behind the baseline to return his opponent’s serve and managed to break Berrettini a second time in the eighth game to win the first set 6-2.

Yes, this is not the simulation 😳#ATPCup | @DaniilMedwed pic.twitter.com/yvjcOMawwc
— ATPCup (@ATPCup) January 6, 2022

Berrettini fights back but Medevdev returns big to win in three

In the second set, Berrettini slowly started to find his way into the match. Both players held their services games without facing a single break point to send the set into a tie-breaker.

Berrettini stepped up his game in the tiebreaker and got the first mini-break to gup 5-3. The Italian converted on his second set point to win the tiebreaker 7-5 and force the match into a decider.

Medvedev broke Berrettini in the third game of the final set and held his serve to complete the 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 win in two hours and 37 minutes.

Medvedev’s return of serve turned out to be one of the key factors in the match. The Russian earned 11 break points, converting 3 of them (the Russian saved both the break points on his own serve), and won 25 percent of points on Berrettini’s first serve but 60 percent of points on the Italian’s second serve.

Medvedev returned to the court shortly with Safiullin to play against Sinner and Berrettini in the deciding doubles rubber.

Spain and Poland are the first two nations to book their spot in the semi-finals of the ATP Cup from Group A and Group D respectively.