Daniil Medvedev soaked the finals – Sport – Kommersant

In the final of the Abierto de Tenis Mifel, which ended in the Mexican Los Cabos tournament of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) category 250 with a prize fund of $820,000, Russian Daniil Medvedev outplayed last year’s British champion Cameron Norrie in straight sets. This is Medvedev’s 14th title in his career and the first he has won since September last year after five consecutive defeats in the finals. Success in Mexico guarantees him the world number one title until at least August 22.

To return after a five-week vacation, which was due to the forced pass of Wimbledon, where not allowed Russians and Belarusians, Daniil Medvedev chose an unremarkable tournament in Mexican Los Cabos. The list of eight “seeded” there was closed by the Argentine Thomas Martin Echeverri – only the 72nd racket of the world. Such an indicator can be considered low even for competitions in the 250 category, and it was clear that Medvedev had excellent chances to reach the final, that is, to show the result that he needed to retain the title of the first racket of the world until at least August 22, when one of the three largest ATP tournaments of the American series in Cincinnati.

It is impossible to say that the Russian did it quite easily.

If in the first two matches, against the Australian Rinka Hijikata, who made his way through the qualification, and the Lithuanian Richardas Berankis, he really had no problems, then in the semi-final against the Serb Miomir Kecmanovic in the first game, he had to play a tie-break. But even there, Medvedev’s advantage in the class had an effect. Thus, he reached the final, where Briton Cameron Norrie became his opponent, who, in turn, dealt with the second representative of the top ten, who arrived in Los Cabos, the ninth racket of the world, Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.

26-year-old Norrie, who was also in the top 10 four months ago, is last year’s champion of Los Cabos. Apparently, the Englishman is generally very comfortable in Mexico. It is no coincidence that in February he was also in the final in Acapulco. Norrie’s recent appearance in the Wimbledon semi-finals once again demonstrated that this left-hander with an original very flat backhand has great potential, but he still does not possess much power, and Medvedev has always felt comfortable against such opponents on hard. He also knows Norrie very well, having trained with him in Monte Carlo this year.

By and large, it was a classic case when the favorite first of all needed to cope with his nerves. Still, five finals in tournaments of five different categories, lost by Medvedev after last year’s triumph at the US Open, gave journalists a reason to talk about the set of decisive matches that the current world number one has developed.

But in this case, Medvedev’s trump cards – a powerful serve and a reliable game on the back line – turned out to be too strong. Norrie had to act on the limit, and he did not always succeed.

In the first game, the opponents exchanged breaks twice, and the second time Medvedev lost his pitch, leading with a score of 5:4 and 40:15. However, Norrie failed to turn the tide of the struggle. In the 11th game, the Russian took the lead again, and in the 12th he kept his serve under zero. Shamefully losing the set, Norrie, apparently, felt defeated. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain why he gave the second set to zero. Medvedev, of course, was very good at times, including his trademark defensive back-line mode and provoking other people’s mistakes. But there were not many strikes that take the breath away from tennis aesthetes this evening.

In the end, Medvedev won in 1 hour 22 minutes – 7:5, 6:0, winning his 14th career title.

Thus, the number of weeks that he will stay on the top line in the ranking will reach at least 13 in the second half of August. That is, the Russian will catch up with the American Andy Roddick, who, according to this indicator, still occupies 17th place out of 27 in the list of all the first rackets in the world.

The next minimum challenge facing Medvedev is to keep the top spot for another three weeks, before the end of the US Open.

According to the results of the next two Masters 1000 tournaments in Montreal and Toronto, only Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaras can prevent him. True, Nadal’s chances of becoming the first on August 22 are virtually zero. He lags too far behind Medvedev, besides, not having time to get in shape after a broken rib at Wimbledon, he decided not to play in Canada. Alcaraz has mathematically more chances. But if Medvedev, who won last year in Canada and reached the semi-finals in Cincinnati, now reaches the finals at least once in these tournaments or only once before the semi-finals and quarter-finals, then it is he who will start the US Open as the leader of the rating.

In Montreal, the Russian will enter the fight from the second round, where he will meet either with the finalist of the recent Wimbledon, Australian Nick Kirios, who played the final in Washington on the night of Sunday to Monday, Moscow time, or with the Argentinean Sebastian Baez.

Evgeny Fedyakov