Twice strong-willed victory: how Russia beat Italy and reached the semi-finals of the ATP Cup

The Russian national team in the final match of the group stage of the ATP Cup tournament with Italy could hardly be called the favorite.

The rival could boast, perhaps, the strongest line-up of all the participants - the seventh and tenth rackets of the planet Matteo Berrettini and Yannick Sinner arrived in Sydney.

The Russian pair did not look so even and balanced, because Roman Safiullin, who was not even included in the top 150, was forced to join Daniil Medvedev, who ranks second in the ATP rating.

However, they immediately demonstrated their fighting efficiency, beating France (2: 1) and defeating Australia (3: 0).

It remained to put an end to the confrontation with Italy, which needed a victory in order to maintain the chances of reaching the semifinals.

In addition, the rivals expected to take revenge for the defeat in the decisive confrontation of the tournament in 2021.

And the first match gave the Italians hope. Safiullin tried his best to impose a fight on Sinner, who was superior to him in class, but could not cope with a powerful opponent. At the same time, he lost more than worthily - 6: 7 (6: 8), 3: 6. Roman entered the meeting with difficulty, but gradually played out and began to create problems for the opponent. The weak point of the Russian turned out to be the implementation of break points (the athlete eventually realized only one of the 12 breaks). In the first game, he did not use several set points and turned out to be weaker in the tie-break. In the second set, Sinner raised the pace and left no chance for Safiullin, taking his serve with confidence a couple of times.

So the Russians found themselves in the position of taking revenge.

The task of doing this fell on Medvedev.

Last year, he beat Berrettini in the final and won the trophy for the national team.

This time, at a difficult moment, Daniel also turned out to be stronger, although he had to work hard.

The confrontation dragged on for three sets, and the tennis players spent more than two and a half hours on the court.

At first, nothing foreshadowed problems for the Russian.

The Italian made a huge number of mistakes and gave his opponent a chance himself.

Already in the second game, Medvedev made a break, and when the score was 3: 0, he did not realize a couple of break points in his favor and missed the opportunity to save energy as much as possible.

However, even without this, the domestic athlete calmly recorded his success - 6: 2.

The fans were concerned only by the appearance of a doctor.

The second racket on the planet had muscle problems and had to tap his stomach.

Either Daniel was affected by the damage, or Berrettini began to play more confidently, but the next game turned out to be much more equal.

Matteo no longer allowed so many blots, and the opponents confidently took their own serve.

The Russian won four games out of six by zero, while his opponent won two.

In the end, it all came down to a tie-break.

Unfortunately, Medvedev was in for a failure there.

He immediately began to lose in the long run and allowed the opponent to earn a double set point.

They managed to win back only one, and the Italian restored the status quo.

The tournament fate of the Russian national team hung in the balance, but at the decisive moment the leader of the team pulled himself together and took over, playing literally through I can’t. In the third game, he made a break and then confidently defended the minimum advantage. A couple of times the opponent came close to answering with the same coin, but Medvedev did not allow the intrigue to revive - 6: 4. He also delighted the fans with a new unusual gesture. Winning heavy points, the athlete made circular movements with his wrists, which amused the spectators in the stands a lot.

“In the first set, I controlled the situation, but this is the catch, because you think that everything will continue to be your way.

But this is not the case if you are against a player from the top ten.

In the second game, I made a few bad decisions and tried to take these mistakes into account in the third.

I served the whole match well, and it helped me, ”Medvedev said after the meeting.

Signature Medvedev ™ ️

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- ATPCup (@ATPCup) January 6, 2022

The fate of the confrontation was to be determined in a doubles match, where the chances of the Italians, who are in the top 10 of the world rankings, also looked preferable. Plus, before the ATP Cup, the Russians had only minimal experience of playing in this category at a youth level. Fatigue could also have affected, because for both this match became the sixth in Sydney in five days.

Domestic tennis players again had to show character, because in the first set they lost - 5: 7. The athletes did not immediately manage to feel each other and play together. At first they made mistakes, but they were rescued by the serve, which was especially good for Safiullin. For a long time the score was equal, and in the seventh game even managed to make a break. Alas, the rivals immediately responded in kind. The decisive episode in the game took place at the end, when everyone was already waiting for a tie-break. However, the Russians unexpectedly gave up their serve - they were let down by their lack of play.

In the future, such problems did not arise.

After a short break, they looked much more confident.

At the beginning of the set, we managed to make another break.

This time, the Russian duo did not miss a minimal advantage.

And on the decisive tie-break, Roman and Daniil left their opponents no chance.

At first, the Italians still tried to fight and even took the lead in the score, but the advantage of the domestic pair was too great, and the rivals were noticeably tired.

As a result - 10: 5.

The Russian national team made it to the semi-finals of the ATP Cup and will continue to defend the trophy.

In the first round of the playoffs, the pair will face the winner of Group C. It is Canada, which defeated Germany in a decisive confrontation.

According to the President of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpishchev, it will be difficult for the national team to repeat last year's success, since too much load has been laid on Safiulin.

“He plays everything, man is not made of iron.

I want him to shoot too, but for him it is a very big physical activity, "- quotes the words of the" Sport-Express "functionary.