"He doesn't believe in himself yet": Samsonova lost to Swiatek in the final of the tournament in Beijing, Medvedev was eliminated from the Masters in Shanghai

Samsonova's Unforced Errors

Lyudmila Samsonova repeated her best result of the season in Beijing, reaching the final of the WTA-1000 tournament. Moreover, in the previous round, she easily coped with a very serious opponent - Elena Rybakina, who had previously knocked out the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.

However, in the decisive match, she had to fight with Iga Świątek, who for a long time occupied the first line of the world ranking and now, for sure, wants to regain her lost positions. It should be noted that the representative of Poland is still a very uncomfortable opponent for the Russian. Previously, the girls dated twice. And if last year in Stuttgart Samsonova managed to impose a fight, then this season in Dubai she managed to take only one game per match.

The first set of the final turned out to be ambiguous. On the one hand, Samsonova tried to act aggressively. She made 11 winners, while Swiatek only one. However, this desire to always act as sharply and powerfully as possible led to a large number of unforced errors. There were 14 of them per game. I immediately remembered the meeting with Marta Kostyuk, when Lyudmila managed to make 71 (!) inaccuracies. Nevertheless, she still broke the resistance of the Ukrainian.

Alas, with such statistics, it was hardly worth counting on success in the confrontation with the representative of Poland. Because the opponent on the court looked just flawless: in the column of unforced errors, she had zero even after the match.

In addition, the Russian did not have a first serve (48%). Therefore, in the sixth game on the reception, Swiatek earned and then converted a break point. And with the score 5:2, Samsonova, in fact, herself gave the set to her opponent, making two double faults in a row.

The second game was in the same vein. Lyudmila again, rather, fought not with her rival, but with herself. Successful actions were followed by a series of mistakes, which did not give the Russian the opportunity to cling to points at the reception. On the serve, the domestic athlete finally began to ace, but the instability caused by excessive excitement led to the fact that Iga took the fourth game to zero.

The end of the match completely repeated the events of the first set. With the score at 5:2, Lyudmila went to serve and made two doubles. And then, at the decisive moment at match point, she missed the shortened one, the ball hit the net, and Swiatek won her 16th trophy in her career. The Russian herself, thanks to reaching the final, will rise to 16th place in the world ranking.

However, as the Honored Coach of Russia Viktor Yanchuk noted, Samsonova needs to believe in herself for further growth.

"As for her performance against Świątek, for all her good technical equipment, Samsonova does not yet believe in herself, hence these unforced errors. To defeat really top rivals, she lacks confidence.

It can also be said that she still lacks the main skill that distinguishes the best tennis players, the ability to fight for the main balls in the match. You don't have to fight for every one, you just need to understand which one will decide the fate of the game, set, match. I think that Lyudmila still has everything ahead of her and first of all, she only needs to play more matches with strong opponents, gradually she will gain confidence and complement her understanding," Yanchuk told RT.

Khachanov and Rublev continue to fight in Shanghai

The men continue to compete at the Masters tournament in Shanghai. On Saturday, four Russians took to the courts, but only two made it to the next round. Andrey Rublev coped with Quentin Alice, who occupies only 76th place in the ATP rankings. Despite this, the Frenchman tried to impose a fight on the Russian and acted even more aggressively than his opponent, making 31 winners against 24 for the domestic athlete.

However, the key in the game was unforced errors, or rather, almost their absence in Andrey. In the entire meeting, he made only two. At the same time, he served well, winning 92% of points with the first ball. As a result, 6:4, 7:4 in favor of Rublev.

The confrontation between Karen Khachanov and Beibit Zhukaev was a little more complicated. It took the Russian three sets to cope with the representative of Kazakhstan. And this can already be called a sensation, since the 22-year-old tennis player does not even get into the top 300 at the moment.

The Russian athlete won the first game only in a tie-break, and during it there was an opportunity to take the opponent's game only once, but the opponent managed to save himself twice.

The second set turned out to be a bit illogical. Khachanov confidently took his serve several times, but then unexpectedly gave it to zero. After that, Zhukaev clung to his games and did not allow his opponent to make a reverse break. The higher level of skill of the Russian was reflected in the third game, in which he finally managed to immediately take a point on the reception. And then calmly bring the matter to victory – 6:2.

Daniil Medvedev and Roman Safiullin could not support their compatriots, having stumbled in confrontations with the Americans. The third racket of the world failed to cope with 23-year-old Sebastian Korda. The first game was evenly matched, and in the end it all ended in a tie-break, in which the Russian did not look his best, making three double faults at once. After that, the athlete even broke the racket on emotions.

The second set was also won by the opponent: the representative of the United States acted well on serve and successfully went to the net, thus taking 21 points out of 33. Daniil was more passive than Korda: 17 winners against 32.

Roman Safiullin lost to the rising star of world tennis Ben Shelton. The 20-year-old caused a sensation at the US Open, reaching the semifinals, but was stopped by Novak Djokovic. Nevertheless, everyone paid attention to the phenomenal serve of the tennis player, which is very difficult to cope with even for the leaders of the world ranking.

Unfortunately, the Russian managed to outplay his opponent only in the first set, which was remembered for two very long games. One lasted 16 rallies, and as a result, Safiullin prevailed in it at the reception from the third break point.

Then the tennis players calmed down a little and began to hold their serves more confidently. In the second game, the key game was the sixth game, in which Roman fought to the last, but still could not escape. And in the third, everything was decided by the only break of the American at the very beginning.