London (AFP)

Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas, the world's number 6, defeated Russia's Daniil Medvedev (N.4) for the first time in his first Masters game on Monday (7-6, 6-4) in London. awaiting the entry into the evening contest of world No.1 Rafael Nadal, back after his injury to Bercy.

The young Tsitsipas, 21, had until now lost all five of his confrontations with Medvedev, who at 23 is also part of this new generation at the end of year Masters.

In a showdown where break points were as rare as the sun in London's November skies, Tsitsipas found the break in the tie-break to pocket the first set.

The two elongated right-handers, 1.93m for the Athenian, 1.98m for the Muscovite, first continued to serve in the second run. Then, after three unfinished break points, Tsitsipas finally managed to grab one, before concluding on his service game by transforming his first match point (6-4).

- Nadal facing the Zverev -

"This is one of the hardest and most important victories of my career," said Stefanos Tsitsipas, who "had the impression of playing in Athens" because of the many Greek flags in the stands.

The final handshake was cool between the two men with tense relationships. Last month the Greek criticized his opponent's "boring" style of play after defeating the Russian in Shanghai.

Medvedev had a very successful season with 21 wins in 22 games between August and October, but his series was stopped by a defeat in the first round of the Masters 1000 in Paris at the end of October.

The other meeting of the group opposes Monday night (21H00 French time) the world No.1 Rafael Nadal to the German title holder Alexander Zverev (22 years, N.7).

An uncertain time for the London tournament, Rafael Nadal will be present, with the ambition to retain his place of world No.1 threatened by Novak Djokovic, winner Sunday of Matteo Berrettini (6-2, 6-1) in opening the tournament.

Damaged by an abdominal injury, Nadal had withdrawn before his semifinal of the Masters 1000 in Paris in early November, but said Friday in a press conference to be "confident that this may well happen" in London.

His entry into the running against Alexander Zverev promises however difficult: last year, neophyte at the Masters, the German had created the surprise largely dominating Novak Djokovic in the final to afford the title.

The fight between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic for the place of world N.1 at the end of the season will be particularly scrutinized this week: the Spaniard is in the lead but the dynamic is in favor of his Serbian opponent, winner of the Parisian tournament. There are eight days and already five times winner of the Masters.

© 2019 AFP