“It was a pure roller coaster” – Tsitsipas survives epic clash to eliminate Medvedev at ATP Finals

In terms of drama, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev’s 11th career meeting was a perfect 10. The pair of former ATP Finals champions engaged in a see saw battle that lasted two hours and 21 minutes and featured more plot changes than an Agatha Christie novel.

In the end – somehow – it was Tsitsipas who held the upper hand. The Greek notched a 6-3, 6-7(11), 7-6(1) victory to end Medvedev’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals in Turin, while keeping alive his own.

“It was a roller coaster, a pure roller coaster,” Tsitsipas said on court after the match.

Even that would be an understatement…

Medvedev’s match point miracle

Tsitsipas looked to be headed to a relatively uncomplicated and well-deserved straight set victory when he held three match points in the second set tiebreak. The Greek got there by playing amazing serve-and-volley tennis across the first two sets, in which he never faced a break point as he kept Medvedev off balance with a streamlined attacking game, complete with pitch-perfect volleys.

It is a tactic that Tsitsipas employed against Medvedev this summer in Cincinnati, as he defeated the Russian in three sets, and it appears to have opened the door for the Greek to play more confidently against his longtime rival, as he controls more of the points on his terms.

But Medvedev wasn’t about to go easily into the Italian night.

He was courageous as he flirted with death only to survive, taking the dramatic tiebreak, and then moving ahead by a break in the third set. As the Russian lead by a break in the third set it was hard to imagine Medvedev giving up the lead – he was serving immaculately.

But somehow Tsitsipas was able to break back for 5-5 as yet another seismic momentum change occurred in the match.

“Terrible to not serve it out, especially on such fast court,” a disappointed Medvedev told reporters.

“A lot of things happened,” recalled Tsitsipas. “I was playing good and he raised his level, not missing a lot of first serves early from the second set all the way to the third.

“I felt like he was very consistent with his placement and I did hang in there and the last game I tried something else and it really worked in my favor. I was able to hit a few returns and made them and that gave me such a great feel of what I can achieve following the next couple of games.”

Tsitsipas rode the momentum of his final break and dominated the tiebreak, jumping out to a 6-0 lead before converting his fifth match point to close out an important victory.

Medvedev out, Tsitsipas and Rublev to play for the semis

The loss improves Tsitsipas’ lifetime record to 4-7 against Medvedev. The Greek will next face Andrey Rublev in a winner-take-all clash for the final spot in the semi-finals at Turin.

Medvedev has now dropped his last seven encounters against top-10 players.

Novak Djokovic, who defeated Rublev to improve to 2-0 on Wednesday, has already won the group.

“We’ve had a lot of battles with him,” Tsitsipas said of Rublev. “I want to try and fight as much as I can and show what my tennis is capable of. It’s going to be a difficult challenge against him and I’ll for sure need to be well rested and put in that intensity that I did [today against Medvedev], and wait patiently to bring the best out of my tennis, step by step.”

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