The Russian national team was unable to defend the title of champions of the ATP Cup tournament. In the semifinals, domestic tennis players lost to the Canadians, who took first place in a very difficult group with teams from the USA, Great Britain and Germany. However, it was the Canadians who were considered favorites of the meeting, since they had a much more balanced composition: Felix Auger-Alyassim and Denis Shapovalov are in the top 15 best tennis players in the world. The latter managed to recover from the coronavirus, which caught in late December.
For the Russians, reaching the semifinals in Sydney was already a great achievement.
In a bitter struggle, they managed to beat the favorite of the ATP Cup - the Italian national team, for which Matteo Beretini and Yannick Sinner played.
The head of the Russian Tennis Federation, Shamil Tarpishchev, even before the meeting with the Canadians, highly appreciated the performance of Roman Safiullin and Daniil Medvedev, noting the good atmosphere in the team.
“In terms of the quality of the game, we look better than our rivals, and the fact that we reached the semifinals is already fantastic.
They perform just fine, above expectations.
The role of leader Medvedev in this situation is visible and noticeable, he plays great and created an atmosphere in which Safiullin is revealed.
There is no pressure on him, the team has a very good emotional background, and it started back that season.
Safiullin has the best week at this tournament for all the time that I have known him, "said a TASS specialist.
Roman also acted well in the match with Shapovalov, who ranks 14th in the ATP ranking, which opened the semifinal confrontation.
The Canadian entered the game more confidently, immediately managing to earn a double break point, but the Russian held out.
However, in the next game, on the serve of Safiullin, Denis still achieved his goal and took the lead - 2: 1.
This small advantage was enough for him to win the game - 6: 4.
In the second set, there was an equal fight, the tennis players took their serve, although at times it was not easy for Roman.
In one of the games, the Russian played a double break point again.
However, Shapovalov also had to fight for his serve.
As a result, in the very ending, Safiullin was able to realize his chances and won the game - 7: 5.
In the third set, emotions decided everything.
The novel, as in the match with Sinner, did not cope with the excitement.
The key was the fourth game, in which the Russian earned six break points, but none could convert.
And two games later, Shapovalov took the opponent's serve and brought the match to victory.
After the meeting, the Canadian admitted that it was not easy for him in the game with Safiullin, which lasted more than two and a half hours.
According to Denis, the Russian should be significantly higher in the ATP rating.
“Roman is playing great now, he should undoubtedly be in the top 100.
He proved this by playing on equal terms with tennis players from the top 10 and top 20.
And this is not surprising, because he won the junior Australian Open, ”said the Canadian.
Again, Medvedev, as in the match with Italy, had no room for error in the confrontation with Auger-Alyassim.
Prior to this match, tennis players met with each other twice.
In 2018, Daniel had a hard time beating Felix at the Masters in Toronto, and last season he confidently coped with the Canadian in the US Open semifinals.
Until the score 4: 4, the tennis players confidently kept their games, but then Shapovalov started making mistakes, and Medvedev began to cope with the opponent's serve and score one goal after another.
Auger-Alyassim himself shivered.
In total, the Canadian made 25 unforced mistakes and was unable to earn a single break point.
As a result, Daniel took eight games in a row, and for the first time since November 2020, Felix lost a game to zero.
The score in the match was equal - 1: 1.
Everything was decided in a pair meeting.
The Russians showed an incredible game in the previous confrontation with the Italians.
It seemed that this time it would be possible to create another small miracle.
During the first serve of Auger-Alyassim, who had not yet come to his senses after the failure in the “single”, the Russians made a break surprisingly easily.
This was enough to bring the set to victory - 6: 4.
In the second game, there was a more stubborn struggle.
Several long rallies, which remained for the Canadians, brought the rivals back into the game.
Everything was approaching a tie-break, but Daniel and Roman unexpectedly failed the start of the game on their serve with the score 5: 6, giving Felix and Denis three set points.
The Russians managed to recoup, but the Canadians realized the next break.
The fate of the match was decided at the championship tie-break.
In it, the Canadians immediately seized the advantage.
They took 6: 3 and did not give the Russians a chance to win back.
For the first time in the tournament, Medvedev and Safiullin lost in a pair and completed their performance in the ATP Cup.
However, even such a result is the undoubted success of the Russian team.
After the meeting, Tarpischev praised the domestic tennis players for a well-run tournament, in which they jumped over their heads.
“We were better in the game with the Canadians for almost the entire match. And Safiullin had an advantage in a personal meeting, and Danya won, and in a pair they looked stronger. The first set was perfect, in the second the Canadians were breaking up. But it was still an equal game. Everything was decided by two or three points. Especially the moment when Dana was unlucky and did not pass his blow to the net. After winning the second set, the Canadians caught the emotional background. But all the same, the tournament is an asset, now we are waiting for Australia. The main thing is that everyone is healthy. The guys didn’t deserve the reproach, ”the“ Championship ”quotes the words of the specialist.
Medvedev also appreciated the speech.
In his Instagram, he posted a post with kind words addressed to the national team: “Today I want to thank my team for this incredible tournament, we tried and did our best, spent amazing days in Sydney.
But everything would not have been so much fun without our captain Gilles Servara. "
After the confrontation with Canada, Daniil takes the first line in the number of victories in the ATP Cup in the entire history of the tournament.
The second racket of the world has 15 won matches, including 11 singles.
The closest pursuer, Pablo Carreño-Busta, has 12 of them so far (6).
However, the Spaniard still has the final of the tournament ahead (he played four singles matches in this ATP Cup).
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