Tennis, Medvedev also triumphs in Doha: defeated Murray

The Russian Daniil Medvedev adds his name to the prestigious tournament in Doha (1,267,300 euros, hard), the only 250 that has the four Fab Fours in the roll of honor: in one hour and 46 minutes he beats 6-4 6-4 the heroic and rediscovered Murray and concedes an encore just a week after the Rotterdam triumph against Sinner.

The Muscovite who has lived and trained in France since he was 16 and who in September was still number one in the world is therefore in nine games in the series and will climb another place in the standings on Monday, finding himself at number 7. Now he will be the Sunshine American double from Indian Wells and Miami to give the dimensions of his return to the top.

THE MATCH

—

The amount of time he spent on the court this week would seem merciless for the 35-year-old Murray, who played a total of 10 hours and 10 minutes, canceling three match points from Sonego in the first round and five from Lehecka in the semis, while Daniil remained on the hard courts of Qatar for 5 hours and 50 minutes. The Russian’s early break, then repeated for the 4-1 with which he opens the first set, seems to immediately put the Scotsman with his back to the wall, who however remains the usual, indomitable lion despite the visible tiredness and returns to 3 -4, then conquering a break point on 4-5 which would restore parity, but Medvedev’s greater lucidity allows him to close the partial. The Russian goes up 3-1 also in the second, Andy once again proudly puts him back up to 3-3, but in the ninth game he concedes the decisive break. In a game in which the two opponents have conquered practically the same percentages of points with the serve (70% with the first and 44% with the second Medvedev, 69% and 45% for Murray), the difference was made by the more aggressiveness of the Muscovite Bear, certainly supported by a greater freshness, as demonstrated by the 20 winners against 9. For Medvedev it is the 17th title in his career: “I have regained confidence, I think I can aim for number one again, it is one of the goals of the season”. Murray, who hasn’t won a tournament since Antwerp 2019, fails to enter the very small group of players capable of winning the same tournament after at least 15 years (he had already established himself in 2008 and 2009) and which only includes the usual trio: Nadal (Roland Garros and Acapulco, 17 years old), : Federer (Dubai and Halle, 16 years old), Djokovic (Adelaide, 16 years old).