Dubai final, without Russians. Medvedev lost to an uncomfortable Frenchman and again did not defend his title
Alexander Nasonov March 1, 2024, 21:21 Moscow time
Daniil lost to Hugo Humbert, with whom he is now 1-3 in personal meetings. But Rublev was disqualified before that.
On Friday, March 1, the semifinal matches of the ATP-500 tournament were played in Dubai (UAE). A year ago, Daniil Medvedev and Andrei Rublev participated in the decisive confrontation, and the champion of the US Open 2021 turned out to be stronger 6-2, 6-2. But this time there will be no Russian final. Rublev’s match with Alexander Bublik ended in a huge scandal, about which you read more in a separate article.
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And then Medvedev and the fifth seed, Frenchman Hugo Humbert, took to the court. In personal meetings, curiously, Humbert led with a score of 2-1. He won on clay at Hamburg 2020 and on hard court at the 2022 ATP Cup match, and Daniil took the helm in Beijing last fall.
“It won’t be easy against Medvedev. We played many times. Matches with Medvedev are always difficult. You need to sleep well at night to perform well,” Humbert said on court after winning the quarterfinals.
Medvedev talked about the wind, which sometimes bothers him at the Dubai tournament. “I won’t say I feel anything special about this weather, but yeah, it’s definitely a little difficult. You’re just trying to adapt. If you play downwind, you try to play lower and slower. If against, on the other hand, you will be able to hit harder, since the wind will stop the ball. Yes, it is not easy for everyone. But I think someone likes to play with the wind,” Daniil said at a press conference.
At the beginning of the match, the rivals played their serves quite confidently. The only exception was the third game, in which Humbert made more errors than usual and gave Medvedev a break point. But the Russian did not take advantage of the opportunity. In the sixth game, Daniil had problems with his serve, made mistakes in his rallies, but won all three break points 3:3.
Humbert started the seventh game at 0:30, but thanks to the serve he regained the advantage. In the eighth game, Medvedev again was unsuccessful in all exchanges, but here he also saved a break point – his opponent hit the net. In the ninth game, Daniil got a hidden set point on a catch, but the opponent fought back, and again thanks to his serve and his smart play. And in the twelfth game the result came, unfortunately not in favor of Medvedev. The Frenchman, who, despite the state of his opponent, tried to attack, did an excellent job at the right moment, and the Russian served well on set point, but then made a length error: 7:5 in favor of Hugo. 1 hour 1 minute.
At the beginning of the second set, Medvedev also had problems. Humbert took his game calmly, and in the second game Daniil made doubles and shot into the net in rallies… As a result, his opponent led 2:0, taking the game away from someone else from the third break point. The third game became one of the most entertaining of the entire match (it even included a tweener from Medvedev, which, however, did not save him in that move), and the Russian knew how to make a counterattack, enduring a long exchange in the baseline. Daniil, revived, broke his serve for the first time in the match (2-2).
In the following games on Humbert’s serve, Medvedev reached break points, but was unable to convert any of them. He was especially offensive in the seventh game, when the Frenchman took his game at 0:40. The reckoning came in the eighth game: Hugo faced a break point and Medvedev threw a candle behind the defensive line on the decisive play. Serving for the match at 5:3, Humbert took advantage of the first match point: 7:5, 6:3 in 1 hour and 50 minutes. He is now 3-1 in head-to-head matchups with Medvedev.
Thus Medvedev was once again unable to defend his title. He has won 20 finals in his career, all in different tournaments. As for Humbert, this will be his sixth final at the ATP level. In the previous five decisive matches he achieved five victories. On Saturday, March 2, he will play with Alexander Bublik.
