Medvedev's series, Rublev's perseverance and Potapova's marathon: how Russian tennis players started at the Masters in the USA

16 wins in a row Medvedev

Daniil Medvedev continues his phenomenal winning streak, which now stands at 16 matches.

After an early exit from the Australian Open, the former world number one has done serious work on himself and has already won three titles in a row.

"Masters" in Indian Wells, the Russian also started brilliantly.

He missed the first round as seeded, and in the second in two sets he dealt with the American Brandon Nakashima.

For reaching the next round, Daniil had to meet with Ilya Ivashko.

Previously, they played each other four times, and the Belarusian won the only victory in 2018 in the Davis Cup playoffs.

After that, Medvedev took the upper hand three times in a row, without giving up a set to his opponent.

In the debut of the new meeting, it seemed that this trend would continue and the Russian would quickly end the battle in his favor.

Medvedev made a break in the very first game, had several opportunities to take the opponent's serve again during the set and took advantage of one of them.

After that, he confidently took "his" game and the first game.

The second set also began with a Russian break, but this time Ivashko joined the fight and immediately restored parity.

Moreover, he took Daniil's serve, despite the fact that he was inferior with a score of 15:40.

After that, a rather viscous game began with protracted draws, and the eighth game decided the fate of the party, which Medvedev also lost on his serve.

The Russian was inferior in it 0:40, played two break points, but on the third attempt the Belarusian still broke the resistance.

Ilya took the next game to zero and thus won a set from Medvedev for the first time in four and a half years.

“I don’t think I played badly in the second set.

It's just that in a draw, even ten good hits may not be enough.

It's not easy," Daniel commented after the game.

The sixth racket of the world was extremely dissatisfied with what was happening and, leaving during the break in the room under the stands, he reproached the judge for the quality of the coating.

It is, in his opinion, not strong enough.

“The court is slow, so I walk slowly,” the athlete said.

The respite and outburst of emotions benefited the tennis player, and he spent the third set in one breath.

Twice in a row, Medvedev took the opponent's serve and had the opportunity to finish the game at zero, but missed three match points on Ivashko's serve with the score 5:0.

But already in the next game, Daniil put an end to the match - 6:2, 3:6, 6:1.

In the fourth round, the Russian will face a difficult test in a match with ex-second racket of the world Alexander Zverev.

The German, who broke his ankle during last year's Roland Garros, has recovered from the injury and is gaining form from game to game.

And Medvedev in the match with Ivashko showed an alarmingly low percentage of the first serve (62) and made too many double faults (6).

If he continues to make mistakes against Zverev, it could cost him dearly. 

Medvedev quite often intersects with Alexander at ATP tournaments - the rivals scored six victories over each other.

“I think there could be a lot of long plays in our match.

Let's see.

The meeting promises to be interesting.

It seems to me that he is playing better and better, and this is normal after a serious injury.

He was one of the best players on the tour, he was pretty close to being the first racket of the world, he showed decent results at the Grand Slam tournaments.

It's unfortunate that he was injured, but I'm sure he will return (to his previous form. - RT ).

I hope to show a good game and win in the upcoming match, ”Medvedev said about the upcoming meeting.

Rublev's tenacity

Andrey Rublev also advanced to the next round of the competition.

The 25-year-old Russian also began his performance from the second round, where he dealt with Jiri Lechka without any problems.

His next opponent was Hugo Humbert, ranked 77th in the ATP rankings.

The start of the match turned out to be discouraging for Andrey: he lost his very first pitch and was losing at first 0:3, and therefore 1:4.

It was time to recall the final of the tournament in Hull 2021, where the Frenchman took the upper hand in two sets, but Rublev managed to pull himself together and straightened out the situation.

In the seventh game, he made a reverse break, with a score of 5:5, he again took the opponent's serve, thereby tipping the scales to his side, and then successfully filed for a set.

Andrei immediately started the second game with a break and did not ease the pressure on the opponent throughout the draws.

He could increase the lead in the long run in the third game, but Humbert won back a break point.

But with a score of 3:5, the Frenchman still faltered on his pitch, and Rublev recorded another victory in his asset.

It took him 1 hour and 22 minutes to do this.

“He started really well, converted a break point, and I was like, ‘I don’t know, looks like today is not my day.

At first, I didn't feel the ball very well, because the first meeting was at night and the conditions were completely different from today.

But then I said to myself: "Okay, today is not my day, he plays better, that's all."

And somehow I took a couple of serves well, made a break and began to feel more confident.

The game went better, I began to serve better and in the end, step by step, I was able to finish at a good level, ”said the Russian after the game.

Andrey's next opponent will be world number 12 Cameron Norrie.

Their last meeting was dated September last year.

Then the Russian knocked out the Briton from the US Open, winning in three sets.

According to Rublev, the upcoming match will be much more difficult than with Humbert, despite the fact that both tennis players are left-handed.

“To be honest, Cameron reminds me a little of Medvedev.

He likes very low and trailing backhands.

He likes to play counterattacks, catch you on mistakes and force you to take extra shots.

The match promises to be very difficult.

Let's see how it all ends, ”said the Russian.

Battle of Potapova

In the men's grid, in addition to Medvedev and Rublev, there were no Russians left.

Karen Khachanov in the third round lost in a protracted three-set duel to Alejandro Davidovich-Fokine.

Both tennis players in the match did not work out the first serve, so he turned out to be rich in breaks.

Opponents took “foreign” games four times, but the Spaniard turned out to be more successful in this fight of nerves.

In draws, he acted more aggressively, recording himself twice as many actively won goals than his opponent (35 vs. 17).

In the women's tournament, there are also only two representatives of domestic tennis left, but at the same time they will have to play each other.

In the third round match, Varvara Gracheva and Daria Kasatkina will meet.

As many remember, the athletes played with each other quite recently, at the start of the Australian Open, and then Gracheva unexpectedly won.

It is curious how the current confrontation will end, given the fact that Varvara a week earlier reached the final of the tournament in Austin, where she lost only to Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk.

And Kasatkina's best result this season is the quarter-finals of Abu Dhabi, where she was stopped by Zheng Qinwen.

A little short of sensation and access to the fourth round of Anastasia Potapova.

She gave battle to the third racket of the world, Jessica Pegula, but still lost in three games.

The meeting turned out to be incredibly stubborn and lasted 2 hours and 19 minutes.

Anastasia won the first game 6:3, in the second she made two breaks, only, alas, she gave her innings one more, including with a score of 4:5.

In the third set, a native of Saratov led 3:1 and 30:15 on the pitch of an American, but she could not keep the advantage.

She lost three games in a row at once, and then, with the score 5:6, she gave up her serve and missed the opportunity to continue the showdown in a tie-break.

The rest of the Russians left the race even earlier.

Veronika Kudermetova first knocked out compatriot Anna Blinkova from the draw, and in the second round she lost to Karolina Plishkova in two sets, who had previously sheathed Anna Kalinska.

Evgenia Rodina at the same stage could not oppose anything to Arina Sobolenko, and Lyudmila Samsonova lost to the little-known American Bernard Pere.