Tennis player Medvedev lost in the final of the Chinese Open to Italian Sinner

In the final of the Chinese Open, an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) 500 category tournament with a prize fund of $3.6 million that ended in Beijing, Daniil Medvedev lost to Jannik Sinner in two sets. Having won all six of their previous matches against the Italian, the Russian this time gave him two tiebreakers. Thanks to his success, Sinner will rise to fourth place in the world classification for the first time.

Before the start of this final, everything seemed to speak in favor of Daniil Medvedev. Not only did he lead 6-0 in his head-to-head series with Jannik Sinner, but he also had the lead in major statistics from the previous four meetings played over the past few days in Beijing. The majority of the public was also on the side of the Russian tennis player, which has not happened often lately. However, there are days when such arguments in favor of the favorite do not work simply because the opponent is slightly better.

Jannik Sinner demonstrated an excellent level of play. Compared to the semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz, the Italian’s tennis looked even more refined, while the Russian’s serve, which reached its peak in the semi-final against Alexander Zverev, lost some of its precision. And this turned out to be enough for Sinner to retain those very key goals that decide the fate of such hard-fought matches.

The first set was generally equal. At first, perhaps, Medvedev looked a little more preferable, who did not take advantage of the break point in the fifth game, but by and large, the Italian, who repeatedly reached the net from serve, was in no way inferior to him. Moreover, in the eighth game Sinner had a 100% chance of taking someone else’s serve. Medvedev had 15:40 and fought off one break point, but on the second his opponent, who seemed to have already secured a point during the rally, managed to shoot into touch, finding himself at the net and with an empty court in front of him. Previously, such mistakes often infuriated Sinner, but here he did not flinch and punished Medvedev in the tiebreaker, who, a couple of minutes after his double mistake, lost – 0:5. And soon, despite the highest rate of hitting the first serve (87%), the Russian lost the game.

The beginning of the second set, by and large, did not change anything. In the third game, Medvedev had to fight off three break points at once, but the time for a radical change had not yet come. The Russian kept balance in the game, although Sinner, wisely playing one point after another, did not allow Medvedev to demonstrate his signature trump card – moving from deep defense to a sharp counterattack. And the Italian’s concentration was fine: during the entire second set, in which the maximum possible number of games were played, he lost only three points on his serve, usually demonstrating iron patience and reducing unforced errors to a minimum.

In the end, everything was decided by the second tiebreak, during which Sinner also led from the first point to the last.

The Italian placed the ball in the very corners, and, if necessary, built an excellent defense – as, for example, with the score 5:2, when, after a jeweled dribble, he earned his first match point from a difficult situation. The final statistics of points won by the newly crowned China Open champion on his serve – 82% on the first and especially 71% on the second – are unique for this talented 22-year-old Italian, whom many have long considered a contender for the title of world number one.

In fact, it’s too early to talk about Sinner in this vein, because at Grand Slam tournaments he only reached the semifinals once, this season at Wimbledon. However, three titles since February, won by Sinner in Montpellier, Toronto and now in Beijing, as well as the career-high fourth place in the ATP rankings, which he will now occupy, hint that very soon the fight for leadership in the world ranking may indeed appear new figure. In any case, it will be very interesting to see what the same Alcaraz or Medvedev can oppose to Sinner if he continues to play as powerfully and rationally as in Beijing.

Evgeniy Fedyakov