Daniil Medvedev beat a convenient opponent at the start of the tournament in Cincinnati

In the first round of the Western & Southern Open – the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati with a prize pool of $6.6 million – world No. 3 Daniil Medvedev confidently outplayed Italian Lorenzo Musetti. The results of this competition in any case will not change the current position of the Russian in the world rankings, but may help him return to the fight for leadership in the near future.

The Cincinnati tournament is the second Masters 1000 event to take place ahead of the August 28 US Open. And in order to appreciate its importance this year, we can recall that the previous, Canadian “masters” presented a whole scattering of surprises in Toronto, and ended with an unexpected victory for the Italian Yannick Sinner, who had previously failed to win such serious titles. Of course, one cannot ignore the fact that the world ranking leader Carlos Alcaras, who lost in the quarterfinals to the American Tommy Paul, played hard for the first time since the end of March, and Novak Djokovic did not come to Canada at all. However, another such sensational week – and some forecasts about who should be attributed to the main favorites of the US Open, it is possible, will have to be revised.

Among the losers in Toronto were both Russian players from the top ten. Andrei Rublev immediately surprised with a quick defeat from the 59th racket of the world American Mackenzie McDonald, and Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals could not cope with the Australian Alex de Minor, who beat the Russian in Paris last fall and seems to be becoming an uncomfortable opponent for him. For the most part, there was nothing wrong with that. Keeping the US Open in mind, it is not necessary to get into optimal shape already in early August. But the fact that Rublev lost to another middle peasant at the start of the Western & Southern Open – Finn Emil Ruusuvuori, who pulled out the hardest three-set match in two tie-breaks, is still a little alarming. Still, taking into account the clay tournament in Hamburg, the Russian has already lost three matches in a row, although we can recall that something similar happened to Rublev in January before the Australian Open, where he interrupted a series of failures and reached the quarterfinals.

For Daniil Medvedev, the tournament in Cincinnati is one of the most successful. Four years ago, he won his first Masters 1000 title on it, after which he reached the quarter-finals once and the semi-finals twice.

On the rather fast hard, which is used there, Medvedev feels comfortable and has the opportunity to show his trademark tennis with drawn-out draws and abrupt transitions to the counterattack.

In addition, the situation in the rating for him is now far from extreme. Next Monday, Medvedev will remain in third place in any case – both by failing to fully confirm the 360 ​​points he earned last year for reaching the semi-finals and by winning the final. It is clear that a master of this level always strives for the maximum result, but when you are not under pressure from additional circumstances, it is always easier to play, and Medvedev, as a very experienced tennis player, cannot help but understand this. Especially since in the fight for first place at the end of the year, which Alcaraz and Djokovic, of course, claim first of all, nothing has been lost for him yet.

The draw in Cincinnati was relatively successful for him. To begin with, the Russian got the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, whom he beat very confidently in Toronto a few days ago. This talented tennis player is ranked high, 18th, can do a lot and has a very beautiful one-handed left hand, but his game overlaps too badly with the best game of Medvedev, who serves stronger and is more stable on the back line. All this was perfectly visible during their short confrontation, which ended with a score of 6:3, 6:2 in 1 hour 18 minutes, 15 minutes faster than last week.

In the middle of the second game, Medvedev’s advantage became overwhelming, and as a result, Musetti won less than half of the points played on his serve.

The Russian knows his opponent in the 1/8 finals even better. This is Alexander Zverev from Germany, who will play with Medvedev for the 16th time and, having six victories to his credit, lost to him three times in a row this season. Meanwhile, the next opponent of Carlos Alcaras was determined, who started this tournament with a hard victory over Australian Jordan Thompson. The next match of the Spaniard promises serious intrigue, because on Thursday he will meet again with Tommy Paul.

Evgeny Fedyakov