In-Form Pospisil Takes Out Medvedev In Rotterdam

After reaching his second ATP Tour championship match at the Open Sud de France last week, Vasek Pospisil continued his fine run of form to upset top seed Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-3 at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.

The Canadian, who served three consecutive aces to escape danger at at 4-4, 0/40, in the first set, won 81 per cent of his first-serve points (30/37) to advance after 67 minutes. Pospisil improves to 6-3 on the ATP Tour this year and levels his ATP Head2Head series against Medvedev at 1-1.

“I was down 0/40 at 4-4 and I hit a couple of big serves to get out of trouble,” said Pospisil. “It could have been a different match. I am just fortunate that I stayed composed.”

In Montpellier, Pospisil did not drop a set en route to the semi-finals and upset second seed David Goffin to reach the ATP 250 final. Despite losing to Gael Monfils with the trophy on the line, Pospisil rose 28 positions in the FedEx ATP Rankings to move closer to a return to the Top 100.

“It doesn’t happen every day that you can beat a player of Daniil’s calibre,” said Pospisil. “You always believe in yourself and you know you can do it, especially if you have done it in the past, which I have.

“I came in with a pretty precise game plan. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, but execution is another thing. I was also the big underdog, so I was a bit relaxed and confident, which is a good combo to have when you are going into a match.”

The World No. 104 will face Filip Krajinovic for a spot in the quarter-finals. The Serbian advanced to the second round on Tuesday night, beating Dutch wild card Tallon Griekspoor 6-4, 6-1.

Felix Auger-Aliassime meets Grigor Dimitrov in the final match of the day on Centre Court. The #NextGenATP Canadian leads Dimitrov 1-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, having beaten the US Open semi-finalist in straight sets at last year’s Fever-Tree Championships.