In-Form Medvedev Rolls Past Struff In Cincinnati

Daniil Medvedev continued his excellent form on the North American hard-court swing on Thursday afternoon when he took apart the powerful game of Stefanos Tsitsipas’ conqueror, Jan-Lennard Struff, at the Western & Southern Open.

Ninth seed Medvedev committed just 12 unforced errors and won 18 of his German opponent’s 25 second-service points to triumph 6-3, 6-1 in 66 minutes on Grandstand.

The Russian, who is currently in sixth position in the 2019 ATP Race To London for a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in the English capital from 10-17 November, has now won 11 of his past 13 matches. On Friday, he is set to meet seven-time former Cincinnati champion and third seed Roger Federer or compatriot Andrey Rublev.

Medvedev took a 3-0 lead, before Struff stepped into court to produce his characteristic winners, and the 23-year-old Russian won 17 of the first 21 points in the second set. He extends his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Struff to 3-0.

The consistent Medvedev, who has a 41-16 match record in 2019, has finished runner-up at two consecutive ATP Tour events — the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. (l. to Kyrgios) and the Coupe Rogers in Montreal (l. to Nadal) — in the past couple of weeks. In February, Medvedev lifted his fourth tour-level trophy at the Sofia Open (d. Fucsovics).

See Where To Watch The Western & Southern Open