The defeat of Federer and the 41st victory of the season: Rublev and Medvedev pluck a standing ovation at the Masters series tournament in the USA

In less than a week and a half in New York, the 139th Open of the US Open begins. Moreover, we can already say that Russian athletes are coming to one of the main competitions of the year in great shape. This is evidenced by the fact that over the past three tournaments they invariably reached at least the semi-finals. First, it happened in Washington, then in Montreal, and next weekend the series will continue in Cincinnati - Daniil Medvedev and Andrei Rublev have already made it to the quarter finals, where they will fight each other.

Over the past month, Medvedev finally came out from behind the backs of his partners in the national team and tried on the role of leader in Russian tennis. First, Daniel reached the final of the ATP 500 tournament in the capital of the United States, and only a week later he repeated his achievement, but already at the Masters-1000 competitions - the second most prestigious after the “majors”. Despite the fact that he failed to win the trophy, the list of defeated was astonishing. So, in two weeks, the Russian dealt with the triumphant US Open-2014 Marine Chilich, the first racket of the United Kingdom Kyle Edmund, as well as the fourth rating number ATP Dominic Tim.

Standing apart is the victory in the first ever Russian semi-final of the Masters series tournament, in which Medvedev easily figured out Karen Khachanov. For success, it took him only two parties and 1 hour 24 minutes. Thanks to this, Daniel not only reached his second final in two weeks, but also beat Karen in the general classification, officially becoming the first racket of the country.

It’s only a shame that these titanic efforts did not bring Medvedev the coveted title either in Washington or in Montreal. On the way to the finals, the Russian did not lose a single set, but in the decisive meetings he himself could not take any games. At first, he lost to the eccentric Nick Kiryos dry, and then he could not impose a fight on the legendary Rafael Nadal. But if the duel with the Aussie took place in a tense struggle, which included two tie-breaks, then in the confrontation with the Spaniard he managed to pick up only three games.

However, these failures did not break the morale of the 23-year-old Muscovite. In Cincinnati, he continued his triumphal march through the North American courts and easily made it to the quarter finals in the second Masters competition in a row. This time he was more fortunate with a draw and not one top-15 tennis player met on the way. He successively dealt with the same Edmund and Benoit Peer, and in the third round he defeated Jan-Lennard Struff.

The German could not provide his counterpart with decent resistance and limited himself to three games won, two of which fell on the first set. It is noteworthy that at the start of the second Russian took only 38 seconds to open an account. He performed four innings right through and thus demoralized the opponent so that he subsequently lost four more points in a row. After that, I no longer had to think about the struggle.

It is noteworthy that in this way Medvedev won his 41st victory this season. By this indicator, he came out on top, which he now shares with Nadal.

But already on the night of August 17, Moscow time, Medvedev is able to become a leader in the number of meetings won this year. To get around the second racket of the world, he needs to get the upper hand in the quarterfinals, where his opponent will be compatriot Rublev. At the same time, Andrei has become the author of a sensation, having dealt with Roger Federer himself in two sets.

Prior to this, the young athlete had already managed to surprise American tennis fans by alternately forcing the Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili and three-time triumphant “majors” Stan Wavrinka to capitulate. At the same time, in the battle with the Swiss, he did not concede a single batch, leaving his counterpart with a zero in the “implemented break points” column.

But even in light of this, success in the battle with Federer seemed akin to a miracle. During his incredible career, the Swiss won the US Open five times, seven times excelled at the tournament in Cincinnati, and is also the champion in the number of hard wins. In anticipation of the match with Rublev, he won 763 matches on this surface and by a wide margin ahead of Andre Agassi (594) and Novak Djokovic (554).

However, Rublev was unstoppable that evening. On his pitch, he confidently hit the first ball and practically made no mistakes. As a result of this, he took 39 of 54 draws and allowed Federer to make only one break. In turn, Andrei himself took games three times at the reception, which predetermined the outcome of the meeting.

The key moment of the first set was already at the start, when the athletes exchanged breaks in three games in a row. Rublev turned out to be more successful, who was twice stronger, after which he confidently brought matters to victory. So, in the remaining games, he only once allowed Federer to take more than one rally on his pitch.

In the second installment, the athletes at first very confidently kept their pitch, and the seventh game became the key by tradition. Roger flinched on his pitch and allowed Andrew to earn a break, and that was just one attempt to realize it. He could not impose a fight on the Russian, limiting himself to only two rallies won at the reception.

For Roger, this defeat was one of the most difficult in his career. So, for the victory, Rublev took only 1 hour 3 minutes - less than anyone in the past 16 years. The last time Federer conceded so unconditionally to Franco Squillari. At the tournament in Sydney, the Argentine prevailed in 54 minutes.

After the match, Federer himself admitted that he did not expect such great tennis from the Russian.

“Rublev acted unmistakably. Defense, attack, good serve. He left me no chance. He was everywhere. It was a tough match for me, but perfect for him. I was impressed, ”ATP press service quotes Federer.

Rublev himself admitted that this day is one of the most memorable in his career.

“This is my biggest and most emotional victory. Federer is a true champion and a true legend. It is hard to imagine what pressure he has to endure day after day: to understand that you are Roger, everyone is watching you, and you must constantly confirm your level, which he has been doing for many years. There is something incredible about this, ”said Rublev.

In anticipation of the meeting, Medvedev published a video message on Instagram, in which he congratulated Rublev on the success and shared his expectations from the meeting in person.

“I am very happy for Rublev. Unreal respect. Beating Federer is something crazy. Waiting for the next match. I hope for a cool Russian quarterfinal, ”said Daniel.

Thus, in the quarterfinal of the tournament in Cincinnati, another Russian confrontation will take place. This time, Rublev will try to stop Medvedev on his way to the third final in three weeks and win the first victory over his compatriot in his career. Previously, athletes met only once and success was accompanied by Daniel. In 2016, at the Challenger in Budapest, Daniel took over in two games.

It is noteworthy that until today there were still chances to see a rematch between Medvedev and Khachanov in the semifinals, but Karen was defeated in the third round match - in three sets he lost to Luke Puy. In the next round, the Frenchman will fight with the current winner of the championship Novak Djokovic.