TennisNH

Medvedev Marches Past Sinner In Marseille

12-Mar-2021 17:33:00 | ATP World Tour

Daniil Medvedev recorded a statement 6-2, 6-4 victory against Jannik Sinner on Friday to advance to the Open 13 Provence semi-finals in Marseille.

The top seed faced just one break point throughout the match and broke serve on three occasions to claim victory in 75 minutes. Medvedev is through to his first semi-final in Marseille, after falling in the quarter-finals in 2017 and 2020.

“[It is my] first time here in the semi-finals in Marseille, even if it is my fourth time playing here and third time in the main draw," Medvedev said in an on-court interview. "I am really happy about it. Hopefully, I can go further.”

Medvedev is chasing his 10th ATP Tour title this week. The Russian owns five tour-level trophies indoors, including the biggest title of his career at the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals.

“Jannik always tries to hit the ball as hard as he can," said Medvedev. "You cannot give him easy balls, otherwise you are going to run all over the place and he is probably going to hit a winner. I needed to take time from him. I need to be aggressive and it worked out very well today.”

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The Australian Open runner-up proved too consistent from the back of the court to end Sinner’s Marseille campaign for the second straight season. Medvedev covered the baseline with expert skill and consistently extracted errors from his opponent’s forehand side to improve to 2-0 in his ATP Head2Head series against the 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals champion. Last year, Medvedev recovered from a set down against Sinner in Marseille to reach the quarter-finals.

“This one was easier [than last year]. I think I showed a great level," said Medvedev. "I was on top of the match the whole time. He had only one break point… Jannik is an amazing player, so I am happy to win that easily this time.”

Medvedev will face Mattew Ebden for a place in the championship match. The Aussie qualifier upset 2018 champion Karen Khachanov 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to become the lowest-ranked semi-finalist in tournament history. Ebden is currently No. 287 in the FedEx ATP Rankings.