55th victory of the season and the second “Masters” in his career: Medvedev defeated Zverev in the finals of the prestigious tournament in Shanghai

Daniil Medvedev extended an impressive series of performances and added to his collection a second victory in a row at the tournament of the prestigious Masters series. This time, the Russian successfully performed in Shanghai, where he prevailed immediately over three representatives of the top 15 of the Association of Tennis Professional Professionals (ATP) rating.

In general, the second half of the 2019 season can be safely dubbed the time of Medvedev. After a not very successful performance at Wimbledon, at which he reached only the third round, the Russian invariably ended up in the final at all five subsequent competitions in which he took part. At the same time, he was completely successful in Cincinnati and St. Petersburg, and at the US Open, he fought with Rafael Nadal on an equal footing. Athletes spent almost five hours on the court, but the more experienced Spaniard still prevailed.

However, few could imagine that Medvedev's triumphal march would continue in China. Invariably, fighting for the main trophy at five status tournaments in a row is very difficult, and one could easily assume that Daniel might simply not have enough strength. At this point, he had already held 67 meetings in a calendar year - more than any of the ten strongest athletes on the planet, which could seriously affect his functional condition.

However, from the very start of the championship, Medvedev began to prove that he was in amazing shape and was superior to his counterparts by head. On the way to the finals, he did not lose a single set, and this despite the fact that he was opposed by extremely serious rivals.

At the same time, the battle with Vasek Pospisil in the second round turned out to be the most intense. It dragged on for more than two hours, and the first set could even end in favor of the opponent. During the game, the Czech led with a score of 5: 2, and in the ninth game he had three set balls at once, but Medvedev managed to escape. As a result, everything was decided on a tie-break, where his opponent also initially took the initiative, but Daniel’s nerves were stronger.

The second half also took place in an equal fight, but this time without a shortened set. With a score of 6: 5, Daniel was hooked on the pitch of Wasek and used his first opportunity to complete the match in his favor.

The subsequent meetings were not without difficult moments. So, Medvedev quite easily took the first game in a match with Fabio Fognini, but in the second the Italian perked up and brought the matter to a tie-break. And this despite the fact that the Russian showed a phenomenal game on his serve and won 96% of the draws when hitting the first ball.

True, it was not enough for more. At a key moment, Daniel was more precise and managed not only to win a ticket to the semifinals, but also to go ahead in the face-to-face confrontation with Fabio. Until now, each of the athletes had one victory each, and the last success of the Italian took place at the 2017 tournament in Cincinnati.

Unlike Fognini, Tsitsipas could not boast of such statistics in matches with Medvedev. Earlier, the Greek fought four times with the Russian, but never managed to get the better of him. At the same time, their meeting in Miami in 2018 ended in scandal, since Stefanos threw the insulting phrase “damn Russian” towards Daniel. This almost provoked a brawl, and the judge on the tower had to calm the current fourth racket.

Despite the fact that this duel turned out to be intense, it ended in the same way as the four previous fights. Only with the difference that before Medvedev invariably lost one set to Tsitsipas, but this time he completed everything in two games.

It is noteworthy that in the final, the Russian was waiting for an opponent, over which until now he had never prevailed. Before the tournament in Shanghai, Medvedev and Zverev met four times, but each time the German tennis player turned out to be stronger. At the same time, the only achievement of Daniel was the set won with a score of 6: 1 at that very championship in Miami.

But in China, a domestic athlete managed to take more than convincing revenge. Medvedev immediately made a break and led with a score 3-0, however, he could not keep this advantage: in the fifth game, the Russian man greatly weakened his grip and allowed Zverev to earn five break points on his serve. He managed to win back four of them, but at the right moment he could not execute his company translation on the right along the line and got out.

Until the tenth game, the athletes remained with their own, but then Zverev again trembled. In one game, he made two unforced errors, and then added two more to them. Daniel won his second set in the confrontation with Alexander and went ahead in the long run.

Zverev rushed to recoup and already at the start of the game he could make a break, but did not achieve what he wanted. This finally broke the German, who lost four more games in a row and was one step away from the humiliating "steering wheel" in the final. His excellent serve came to the rescue.

Medvedev finished the second game with a score of 6: 1 in his favor and for the second time in his career he won the Masters series tournament. On this indicator, he caught up with Nadal, in addition to which so far no one has been able to achieve such success. At the same time, Daniel is on a par with Raphael in terms of the total number of trophies per year. In addition to them, Novak Djokovic and Dominic Tim have the same assets.

Thus, Medvedev was only the seventh of the current tennis players who have two or more victories in the Masters series competitions. Besides him, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Alexander Zverev, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal can boast of such. Moreover, it is the Spaniard who is the leader in this indicator with 35 trophies won.

After the match, Medvedev admitted that he always dreamed of winning in Shanghai, and once again said that he did not celebrate victory in principle.

“During the US Open or after Cincinnati, I decided it would be my thing. Everyone says that we need new faces, something new, so I gave them this. I don’t celebrate the victory, I remain calm, I do my job and I’m done, ”the athlete admitted.

Currently, Medvedev has 55 assets won in a season, and is the sole leader in this indicator. Moreover, in the post-Wimbledon period, he was stronger in 29 of 32 matches, losing only to the same Nadal (twice) and Nick Kiryos.