In Cincinnati Tsitsipas surprises Medvedev, in the final there is Coric

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Borna Coric will play the final of the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati tonight. The Greek beat world number 1 Daniil Medvedev 7-6 3-6 6-3, while the Croatian easily beat Britain’s Cameron Norrie 6-3 6-4.

The match

–

The tenth episode of the rivalry between the Greek and the Russian has rewarded the complete and all-court tennis of Tsitsipas who, with the exception of the parenthesis of the second set, managed to perfectly mix the excellent performance in the service (66% of prime time with the 82% of the points scored), with a significant amount of downhill runs (36 with 27 points scored) and a strenuous defense from the baseline. Yet Medvedev, with his always very unorthodox and jerky tennis, had his chances. As with the break of the first game that he had to return for 3 all, or with the wasted set point in the tie-break of the first set that he had by hoisting himself on 6-5. But on this occasion the Greek played like a great champion, he canceled the set point by keeping the two batting rounds and then he operated the mini break that decided the fraction. In the second set, thanks to 4 double fouls (three in the second game and one in the fourth), Tsitsipas slipped under 5-0, recovered up to 5-3, but here he missed 3 consecutive balls to recover also the second break and return in game. But it was Medvedev’s nerves that decided the challenge, completely jumping at 3-2 in the third set. Here the world number 1 has committed 4 double fouls, and after having conceded the break he surrendered losing to zero the last turn of Tsitsipas. Now the rivalry between the two is 7 wins for Medvedev and 3 for Tsitsipas, now in his first final in Cincinnati. Tonight will be the sixth Masters 1000 final for the Greek. He previously lost his first in Canada in 2018 to Rafael Nadal, then he lost in Madrid in 2019 to Novak Djokovic, he won in Monte Carlo in 2021 against Andrey Rublev, he won again in Monte Carlo in 2022 with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and he lost the last game in Rome this year against Novak Djokovic.

the number 1

–

Medvedev, thanks to the defeat of Nadal at the debut against Borna Coric, remains number 1 in the world, but the chance that he will maintain the top at the end of the United States Open is considerably reduced. With the 2,000 points expiring for the 2021 victory, at the end of the Us Open Medvedev is virtually overtaken by Nadal and Zverev. This is the ranking without the points of Flushing Meadows 2021: Nadal 5,630, Zverev 5,040, Medvedev 4,885, Tsitsipas 4,845 plus any 400 if he wins in Cincinnati.

What Coric

–

In tonight’s final Tsitsipas will find Borna Coric who, tired of waiting after his long injury, took the satisfaction of beating British Cameron Norrie 6-3 6-4 in just 91 minutes, qualifying for the second time for the final of a Masters 1000 after the one lost in Shanghai in 2018 against Novak Djokovic. Due to the rain, the match between Coric and Norrie was moved to the grandstand in the evening. In the spotlight Norrie had a rocket start (3-1), then his tennis faded and the Croatian took over by placing five consecutive games. In the second, however, Coric made the void with the break of 3-2 then losing just 2 points in the final 3 rounds of serving. Coric finished with 7 aces, 2 double fouls, 79% of the points scored with the first, 22 winners, 15 free mistakes and 3 break points converted out of 7. For the Croatian it is the eighth final of his career (2 tournaments won and 5 lost finals), the first from St. Petersburg 2020 when lost to Andrey Rublev. With this result Coric goes from number 152 to number 48: he will be number 29 if he wins the tournament.