Unexpected castling: Alexandrova won the second tournament in her career, and Medvedev lost to the 205th racket of the world

Russian tennis players this week seem to have decided to show Wimbledon what the Grand Slam tournament will lose due to the exclusion of athletes from the competition.

In 's-Hertogenbosch, they managed to reach the final in both men's and women's singles. 

"Could take her serve"

Seven Russian tennis players at once took part in the WTA 250 tournament this week, since parallel competitions in the UK, like Wimbledon, were not available to them.

Ekaterina Alexandrova managed to get to the decisive match, having beaten Veronika Kudermetova the day before.

The athlete is having a good season.

Already twice reached the semi-finals on clay - in Charleston and Madrid.

And it seemed that she could perform well at Roland Garros, but she was stopped in the second round by the 63rd world number Irina Begu.

The transition to another surface did not affect Alexandrova's tennis.

As former third racket of the world Nadezhda Petrova noted in an interview with RT, Ekaterina's playing style allows her to successfully operate on any surface.

You just need to make small adjustments to the tactics.

However, few could have expected the ease with which the athlete would pass her first final on grass in her career.

Moreover, she got Arina Sobolenko, who occupies the sixth place in the world ranking, as her rivals.

The Belarusian had previously experienced problems with the serve.

Last year, the tennis player allowed the most doubles in the WTA tour.

But on the ground this season, she finally gained confidence, so the bookmakers were inclined to believe that it was she who would win in 's-Hertogenbosch.

A confident game on this surface also spoke in favor of Arina: she reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon 2021.

However, the meeting showed Alexandrova's significant progress in recent times.

At first it was an equal fight.

The first to achieve a break was Sobolenko and took the lead 4:2.

The Russian woman was not at a loss and immediately leveled the game, taking the opponent's serve.

The key game in the game was the 11th game with a score of 5:5.

Arina did not hit the court, and after that Alexandrova had the opportunity to get ahead, which she confidently took advantage of, and then brought the matter to victory - 7:5.

In the second set, Sobolenko's play completely unraveled, mistakes started again.

Immediately two doubles in the game led to the fact that she gave it to zero.

And then she couldn’t do anything on the opponent’s serve.

Alexandrova had a shortened and two aces.

After that, Arina seemed to have given up, and Ekaterina won with a score of 6:0.

The Russian took nine games in a row.

Although Alexandrova is already 27 years old, this is only the second title in her career.

She won the first one not so long ago - in 2020 in Shenzhen.

Thanks to the victory in the Netherlands, the athlete will rise from 30th to 27th in the WTA rankings.

As Ekaterina noted after the final, she was surprised by her result, since in the first match she could not get into the court in any way.

“Grass is very difficult for any tennis player because the rebound is so unpredictable.

Sometimes you have no idea what to do next because you don't know what to expect.

But from match to match, I felt that it was getting easier to find the rhythm.

Of course, I am very happy, ”RIA Novosti quotes the words of the athlete.

According to Ekaterina, the semi-final in Madrid helped her psychologically, because then she realized that she was capable of winning on any surface.

“I lost to Arina before, she hits very well, she has a super serve, and on the grass this is just a killer argument.

But I just found the rhythm, I was able to return the ball, the draws began.

The key to winning was to take her serve, ”added Alexandrova.

"Shouldn't have lost"

We predicted victory in the finals and Daniil Medvedev.

The Russian throughout the tournament in 's-Hertogenbosch acted quite confidently and defeated two strong opponents at once - Gilles Simon and Adriano Mannarino, who perform well on the grass.

This only confirmed the opinion that the athlete had finally adapted to the surface.

Already last year, he had significant progress - winning the tournament in Mallorca and the fourth round of Wimbledon.

And now there is an opportunity to win a second title in a career on grass.

Moreover, the opponent he got was not the most formidable - the 205th number of the world ranking Tim van Reithoven.

The representative of the Netherlands presented a surprise at home, defeating American Taylor Fritz and Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.

However, many believed that the final of the tournament was the maximum for a young athlete.

But, as in the case of the women's part of the competition, the experts were wrong.

The match did not go well for Daniil from the very beginning: he gave his serve, and then, at the most inopportune moment, his nose bled, which caused him to take a medical timeout.

However, this trouble did not prevent Medvedev from achieving a reverse break and leveling the game, but he could not achieve an advantage over his opponent.

The first pitch went with varying degrees of success, and the Russian practically did not take points for the second - only 8 out of 21 per match.

In addition, aces alternated with double faults.

The key in the first set was the 10th game with a score of 4:5.

Van Reithoven earned a double set point and was the first to convert: Medvedev did not have time for the sharp cross of the Dutchman and made a mistake.

The beginning of the second game was even more disastrous.

Daniil did not look like himself: he constantly sent the ball out, the short ones did not go through.

Influenced the game and the stands, furiously supporting the Dutchman.

Van Reithoven almost always had the first serve, after which he forced Medvedev to run all over the court.

Quite quickly it came to 0:5.

But the Russian managed to soak the score, while winning match points.

However, Daniel was not ready to capitalize on the success.

The opponent easily "under zero" took the seventh game and won the first title in his career.

Van Reithoven became the lowest-ranked tennis player this season, who managed to win the ATP tournament.

Until this week, Tim has not been able to win a single match on the tour.

Speaking about the result of Medvedev, the honored coach of Russia Viktor Yanchuk noted that the athlete’s functional state was not the best.

“He still has quite a long recovery period.

You need to acquire a game form, restore your feelings and immerse yourself in a competitive atmosphere.

Indeed, such a difference in positions in the rankings.

Danya was not supposed to lose, it seems.

But the competition is high.

You have to play at your level, and then the advantage will be felt.

Medvedev has not gained his height yet.

As I understand it, he still needs to play and recover for another two months, ”the Championship specialist quotes.

Next week, Daniil, in the status of the first racket of the world, will hold a tournament in Halle.

It remains to be hoped that it will turn out more successfully for the Russian.