Medjedovic battles past Van Assche to maintain perfect record at Next Gen Finals

Hamad Medjedovic of Serbia gave himself a great chance of reaching the semi-finals of the ATP Next Gen Finals after he battled to a 4-2, 2-4, 4-3 (7), 4-2 victory over French No 2 seed Luca van Assche in Jeddah on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old, a protege of Novak Djokovic, hit 30 winners, including 13 aces as he moved to two wins out two, putting him top of the Red Group. Van Assche, a former junior French Open champion, had three set points but Medjedovic showed his resilience, power and poise to get the job done again.

“For sure the tiebreak changed a lot of things in this match, he had three set points, I stayed focus on the important points, I was consistent, hitting it hard. I’m glad I won that tiebreak.

“I thought I played well on both forehand and backhand and I’m happy I got the win.”

Medjedovic makes good start but Van Assche solid

Medjedovic owns a huge serve and massive forehand and he made good use of them both in the first set. Having broken in the third game to move ahead, he held the advantage, saving two break points in the last game to close it out, thanks in no small part to five aces.

At the start of the second, his concentration seemed to waver a little and the mistakes began to flow, allowing Van Assche back into the match. The Frenchman saved three break points himself at 2-2 but then immediately broke Medjedovic to take the set, finishing it off with a fine running forehand pass.

Medjedovic WINS THIRD-SET TIEBREAK FROM 5-1 down

At the start of the third set, the usually measured Van Assche received the first warning of the tournament when he double-faulted to hand Medjedovic a break point in the opening game. But Van Assche, a former junior French Open champion, clicked straight back into gear and held on to his serve.

With his coach Viktor Troicki, the Serbia Davis Cup captain, encouraging him from the stands, Medjedovic continued to unleash some enormous shots, mostly on the forehand, but Van Assche held firm.

The set headed to a tiebreak and Van Assche looked set to take it when he forged a 5-1 lead. Medjedovic recovered to 6-4 but the Frenchman had three chances to win it, at 6-4, 6-5 and again at 7-6 but he couldn’t take it and the Serb cranked up his forehand to win it 9-7.

One break enough to win the match

Medjedovic, who had cramped in his win over Alex Michelsen on Tuesday, left the court for over nine minutes for a bathroom break.

Van Assche began well but Medjedovic continued to go after the ball, breaking for 3-1 and then, when faced with break points as he tried to serve out the match, went forehand winner, ace and another huge serve to close it out.

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