The final of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna is called Daniil Medvedev against Denis Shapovalov. The top seeded Russian defeated the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrow after 85 minutes 6: 4.6: 2 at the ATP 500 tournament in the Stadthalle, which was again sold out with 9,500 fans. In the final on Sunday (2 p.m./live ServusTV) he will measure himself against the Canadian Shapovalov, who in the second semifinal defeated the Croatian Borna Coric clearly 7: 6 (4), 6: 0 after a hard-fought first set.
Medvedev, who safely knocked out Dominic Thiem twice in the round of 16, is still on course to qualify for the ATP Finals in Turin. With a title win in Vienna, the 26-year-old could already fix the Masters ticket. The fourth in the world rankings, who has not yet had to give up a service game at this year’s tournament, will play his fifth final of the season on Sunday and hope for his second title in 2022 after Los Cabos or his 15th tour title. In this form, Medvedev is also a favorite on Sunday, no matter against whom: he has only lost 22 games in four games.
“Yes, I feel great. Today was another high-level match,” said Medvedev. It wasn’t quite as easy as the results would suggest. “We’ve had some tough rallies. But not much to say, I’m really happy with my form and I hope to show that tomorrow as well.”
He didn’t have much trouble with his serve. To be precise, Medvedev again didn’t have to fend off a single breakball. On the other hand, Dimitrov was always under pressure from his service. Medvedev stayed focused until the end and had a reason for it: “In the last match against him I was one set and two breaks up and still lost. It’s in your head. And when I served the match at 5-2, I said to myself ‘okay, every point counts, don’t let that happen twice in a row’.”
In the head-to-head with Dimitrov, Medvedev now made it 4: 2. Breaks to 3: 2 in the first round and 3: 2 and 5: 2 in the second round were enough for the 1.98 m giant to easily win over the three-year-old Bulgarian.
He’s still missing one win to finally secure himself for the Masters. “The second part of the season wasn’t exactly great. It was in my head. I had to make sure that I could secure my place in Turin. That’s why I came here after the injury,” explained the new father of a daughter. If he had already fixed his place at the ATP season finale, Medvedev admitted, he would not have made the trip to Vienna.
“Tomorrow I’ll try harder to win because it’s a final. I want to win the title,” said the Russian, who is no longer feeling the effects of his adductor injury sustained in Astana. He is very satisfied with his physical condition. “Especially because I couldn’t do anything for a week and a half.”
Medvedev has a 3:2 record against Shapovalov, the Russian has won the last three games, most recently this year in the round of 16 in Cincinnati 7:5,7:5. “Against Denis it might be a bit harder to get used to his left-handed game,” said Medvedev before the final result. However, he has a 2:4 record against Coric.
After that, Shapovalov only struggled against Coric in the first set. Without a break, it went into the tie-break, which the Canadian then won 7:4. Set two was then a one-sided thing for Shapovalov on the way to his sixth final on the ATP Tour.
“That was another great match for me. Of course, Borna played some long, difficult games, so this first set was very important,” said the world number 19. “I was really happy with that tiebreak and then that early break in the second set gave me more energy.”
However, the 23-year-old goes into the match against Medvedev as an outsider. “It’s a great opportunity for me to play against a player like Daniil. He’s having a great week here, it’s going to be difficult, but I’m happy,” said Shapovalov, whose compatriot Felix Auger-Aliassime is also in the final in Basel. “Cool to see another Canadian playing very well in the same week.”
Shapovalov has been waiting three years for his second title on the tour to Stockholm 2019. “I’m happy to be where I am. As long as I can put myself in position, I’m sure the titles will come,” worried not him. It is questionable whether this can already be the case in Vienna on Sunday, because his opponent is close to his best form.
Source: Nachrichten
