On Wednesday, August 16, the Cincinnati Masters (USA) hosts the second round matches; if the weather doesn’t interfere, all matches should end today. Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion, played his first match at the tournament, being rested in the first round as the third seed. His opponent was the 21-year-old Italian tennis player Lorenzo Musetti, ranked 18th in the ATP ranking. In the first round, Musetti was stronger than the British Daniel Evans – 6:4, 6:3.
Interestingly, Medvedev and Musetti meet for the second consecutive tournament. At the Toronto Masters, which took place last week, the Russian defeated the Italian in the 1/8 final – 6:4, 6:4. This match took place on August 10. And that was his first face-to-face meeting. But in the quarterfinals in Toronto, Daniil suffered a disappointing setback. He was unexpectedly stopped by Australia’s Alex de Minor, 24, who is hurtling towards the top 10 in the world rankings.
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How did Medvedev, the winner of Toronto 2021, explain the loss to De Minor? The Russian complained about the quality of the balls, although he acknowledged that he still has to adapt. “I have been feeling this since the beginning of 2023. And here it happened again. The ball wears out immediately, it becomes very big and heavy. Accordingly, it is difficult for him to develop speed. I think he equals the level of all the players on the circuit. That’s why such powerful players like Davidovich-Fokina excel here. Today I felt like I had to take a risk to beat a player like Alex, but I made too many mistakes. In any case, even if I don’t like these balls, I have to adapt to them, ”he said at a press conference.
And he lamented the large number of double faults: “For some reason, this year I commit a lot of double faults. I don’t remember allowing that many doubles last season. At the same time, I feel like I have a good second serve. I have nothing more to say other than I need to work on my service. And if I want to win the next tournaments, I need to commit fewer double faults.”
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And already before the start of the Cincinnati Masters, Daniel stressed the special importance of the tournament. Let’s remember that in 2019 he won the title here, and in 2021 and 2022 he reached the semifinals. “This is my last start before the US Open, the tournament is very important: Masters. In Toronto, unfortunately, I didn’t manage to show everything I expected. So I have a couple of days to get in the right frame of mind already here, and then of course the most important thing is to try to win. The grid is quite difficult, I would say that all the opponents are very strong, which is not surprising. So I really want to start, ”he said at a press conference.
Daniil Medvedev kicks the ball in quarterfinal with Alex de Minor at Toronto Masters
Photo: Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images
Medvedev did not enter the game in the best way, allowing the opponent to break in the first game. However, he immediately rehabilitated himself for failure, having achieved a reverse break and below zero-1: 1. After that, the match returned to its traditional course, when each player takes his serve.
In the fifth game, Medvedev did not allow his opponent to reach break points, despite the fact that he committed two double faults. In the stubborn sixth game, the Russian tried to mark a turning point in the game, although it all started at 40:0 with Musetti’s serve. Daniil got a break point, but couldn’t convert it, making several mistakes in the ties: 3:3. But in the eighth game, Medvedev still took someone else’s serve – 5:3. Introducing the set, Daniil gave Lorenzo only one draw – 6: 3 in 45 minutes. The Russian made fewer unforced errors (seven against eight) and significantly outperformed the Italian in winners: 17 against six.
In the second set, Medvedev came extremely close to breaking in the third game. Musetti arranged for himself 0:40 on the field, but then pulled himself together and did not allow the opponent to gain an advantage. Following the Russian, he brought his game to zero (2: 2), and then made a break, taking advantage of the opponent’s inaccuracies, after which, already with his serve, he widened the gap-4: 2. Daniil did not stop at this and, having issued the second break (in both cases, Lorenzo took only one point), he began to request the match. Medvedev won the last game with no less confidence, immediately using a double match point: 6: 3, 6: 2 in just 1 hour and 19 minutes.
Then Medvedev beat Musetti for the second time in six days. In the third round he will fight the winner of the match Alexander Zverev (Germany, 16)-Yoshihito Nishioka (Japan). Remember that all the other Russians in the men’s draw lost in their first matches in the tournament. Andrei Rublev stopped the fight in the second round, Roman Safiullin and Alexander Shevchenko – in the first. And Karen Khachanov, who had not played with Roland Garros, that is, for more than two months, withdrew before entering the court.
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The Cincinnati Masters will end on August 20. Follow all the events in the “Championship”.
