Medvedev denies Zverev to find his way back to a final

Former No. 1 Daniil Medvedev snapped out of a lengthy and demoralising slump thanks to a 7-6 (3), 607 (1), 6-4 defeat of Alexander Zverev to reach his first ATP finals in 15 months on Saturday at the Halle event.

The pre-Wimbledon tuneup proved to be the perfect tonic for the 29-year-old who played a final at Indian Wells in March of last year.

With his form a disaster recently, Mwdvedev’s ranking has slipped to 11th. But he will now return to the top 10 despite his result in the Sunday final in Westfalen, northern Germany against either Alexander Bublik or Karen Khachanov.

The semi-final was the 20th in the long series between Medvedev and German Zverev, twice a losing finalist here in 2016 and 2017; Medvedev now leads 13-7.

“I’m happy with my level, I played great,” Medvedev said. “I could have done much better when I had the break in the second but it is normal. 

“The same happened in the third set that when I had the break, he started playing better, returning better.”

He added: “I’m glad that in the third set I managed to stay more composed and save break points (after having match points for a straight-set win in the second). But I’m happy to win in the end.”

Victory took nearly three hours at the event where world No. 1 Jannik Sinner crashed out in the second round to Bublik. 

Medvedev has now won his last four matches against Zverev, the ATP No. 3.
“All the matches are very tight. When the matches are tight like today, they can go any way,” Medvedev said. 

“It is very, very close. I am happy I managed to win. It is tough, he serves good. I had two games that I broke him.”

The winner will aim for a 21st career trophy, joping to end a title drought going back more than two years to May, 2023 in Rome.