Medvedev beats Zverev in comeback and is in the quarterfinals

Sascha Zverev and Daniil Medvedev were tied 6-6 in the rivalry that had pitted them against each other from 2016 to the present. The balance was broken in the round of 16 at Indian Wells and it was once again a great battle. Between a lament, a provocation and a controversy, match points canceled and exchanges of break and counterbreak in the third, Daniil won in the third set after more than three hours 6-7 7-6 7-5 in 3 hours and 17.

The good news is that the German, who suffered a terrible ankle injury in the semifinal of Roland Garros 2022 against Nadal, is getting closer to what he used to be, although he only scored two of the 17 break points available. The operation on torn ligaments in Paris had stopped him for three months, and the rush to return in time for the US Open had given him bone edema that stopped him until the end of the season. Now Sascha, who has in his team an attentive and expert athletic trainer like Dalibor Sirola (formerly of Jannik Sinner) fights at a high pace, moves well and even manages to cancel a match point and counterbreak Medvedev to get back on 5-5 in the third set. It’s a pity that immediately afterwards he returns to the Russian who closes for the 17th consecutive victory, the arrival in the quarterfinals and the challenge against Davidovich Fokina who defeated Garin in the other eighth final.

Daniel’s show

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The show, more than the game, was given by the former number 1 in the world as always, in controversy since the beginning of the tournament against the field, too slow in his opinion. Indeed it is slow, but not so much as to justify the constant shows with the referee: “Do you think this is a fast surface? No, it’s not. You know, I’m a specialist and I assure you that this course is not fast” . And then he continued to squirt against the court under the resigned gaze of Zverev fresh from winning the first set: “It’s a shame that they let us play up here, it’s an absolute shame. This court is a disgrace.” In the second set, however, the Russian twisted his right ankle which kept the audience in suspense and made Zverev shiver, remembering the incident in Paris: “At the moment it didn’t seem like anything serious – he said Medvedev -, then I felt a sharp pain when I stood up. But with the taping it was better, I didn’t imagine: I was struggling to walk, I had a limp, yet I was able to run. I wasn’t pretending, I swear. The hardest moment is It was when he broke me at 5-4, I was afraid I’d have to play another tie break. It was a good battle: there’s a reason we were 6-6 until yesterday”.