Medvedev Sweeps Into Paris SFs, Schwartzman Made To Wait
Daniil Medvedev booked his place in the Rolex Paris Masters semi-finals on Friday and ensured Diego Schwartzman will have to wait on whether he has qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time.
Third seed Medvedev swung freely to overpower the sixth-seeded Argentine 6-3, 6-1 in 63 minutes to reach his second tour-level semi-final of the year (also US Open, l. to Thiem). He will next play Canadian No. 10 seed Milos Raonic or Ugo Humbert of France
Pablo Carreno Busta, who plays top seed Rafael Nadal later today, could deny Schwartzman the final qualification spot at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 15-22 October, by lifting the Paris trophy and also next week’s Sofia Open crown. But Carreno Busta must first improve upon an 0-6 record against fellow Spaniard Nadal.
[WATCH LIVE 1]Medvedev capitalised on early errors from Schwartzman to win 12 of 13 points for a 3-1 advantage, which came when Schwartzman hit a forehand long. The Russian’s greater power on serve did the damage and he clinched a one-sided 36-minute opener once Schwartzman struck his eighth forehand error into the net.
Schwartzman battled in the second set, but Medvedev was relentless in defence from behind the baseline and gained breaks at 2-1 and 4-1 with terrific scrambling. Medvedev finished with an ace down the T, his 17th winner, and is now 4-0 lifetime against Schwartzman, including a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory at the inaugural ATP Cup in January. The 24-year-old, who won 27 of his 28 first-service points against Schwartzman, has a 21-10 match record in 2020.
World No. 9 Schwartzman is now 25-12 on a career-best year, which includes three runner-up finishes at the Cordoba Open (l. to Garin) in February, his first ATP Masters 1000 title match at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (l. to Djokovic) in September and the bett1HULKS Championship (l. to A. Zverev) last month.