Medvedev To Face Schwartzman In Paris Quarter-finals
Daniil Medvedev recorded his 20th match win of the season on Thursday after battling back to beat Alex De Minaur 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and 51 minutes at the Rolex Paris Masters.
“It was a really difficult first set, I wasn’t playing bad, but he was also playing well. I was up a break, but didn’t keep the momentum and he came back and was a little bit on fire,” said Medvedev. “The second and third sets were the same scenario, really. I broke early in the second set and I was stronger on my serve to put a lot of pressure on him. I got more confident, knowing that I could put a bit more on my serve and started to come in.”
[WATCH LIVE 1]The third-seeded Russian will now play sixth seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina in Friday’s quarter-finals. Schwartzman is one victory away from qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 15-22 November, for the first time.
”I watched his match and Diego played really well,” said Medvedev, of Schwartzman’s 6-1, 6-1 win over Spanish qualifier Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. “I think he made five unforced errors and was returning a lot of balls in the court. He served pretty well and it will be a really tough match, because he has been on fire this year. I am looking forward to it.”
Medvedev leads Schwartzman 3-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, including a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory at the inaugural ATP Cup in January.
Medvedev broke De Minaur immediately, but couldn’t carry the momentum in the first set. De Minaur broke to love at 2-3 and as Medvedev’s errors mounted, the Australian No. 16 seed clinched the 47-minute opener with another service break in the 12th game.
De Minaur got off to the worst possible start in the second set, when he was broken in the first game. From 30/40 in the first game to 3-1, 30/0, Medvedev won 17 straight points and went on to finish the 29-minute second set with an ace.
Medvedev grew in confidence and his deep groundstrokes reaped dividends in long rallies with breaks of serve at 1-1 and 3-1. Medvedev closed out with an ace, his 27th winner.
The 21-year-old De Minaur, runner-up at the European Open in Antwerp (l. to Humbert), is now 12-9 in the 2020 season.