Tennis, Medvedev, wins from # 1 and to Putin: “I am for peace”

A few hours after the defeat of Novak Djokovic in Dubai which allowed Daniil Medvedev to secure the first world position in the ranking next Monday, the Russian obtains his first virtual number 1 victory by overcoming the Japanese Yoshishito Nishioka in the quarter-finals of Acapulco by 6- 2 6-3. “It is not easy – said Medvedev – to stay focused and play when you receive such news and above all after the countless congratulatory messages they gave me. But my goal was to win this delicate match today and so it was”. Medvedev then spoke of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine: “As tennis players we promote peace all over the world. I have been to many different countries since I was a junior and it is not easy for me to hear all this news. I am for peace. “. Medvedev noted that in last week’s tournament in Marseille the victory in the doubles went to a Russian tennis player, Andrey Rublev, paired with a Ukrainian, Denys Molchanov. “It was fantastic – he says – because people need to be together”.

The match

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The Russian played on autopilot throughout the first set, but then in the second set he lost sight of his opponent who shot forward to 3-1. At this point, however, Medvedev returned to dominate the exchanges from the baseline and for the poor Japanese it was again the middle of the night. And at the appointment with the semifinals there is also Rafael Nadal who overtook the American Tommy Paul 6-0 7-6 obtaining his 13th victory in as many matches in his fantastic start of 2022. Rafa dominated the first set leaving all ‘opponent only 10 points, but suffered in the second (which lasted a total of more than an hour and a half alone) to stand up to Paul and the suffocating hot-humid Acapulco. “The first set – said Rafa – was perfect, I hadn’t played so well for a long time. In the second set I made several mistakes, he went up and the game balanced thanks to the many breaks”. The Spaniard had to chase and recover a break from a disadvantage twice when Paul found himself ahead first 2-1 and serve and then 4-3 and serve. At 5-4 Paul served uselessly to close the set, on 5 all Rafa saved two balls that would have sent the American back to bat to close the fraction and on 6-5 the Spaniard missed two match points before everything came decided at the tie break. Here Rafa was under a mini break (2-0 Paul), but then he slipped four points in a row closing the decisive game for 7 points to 5. The other semifinal will be played by Stefanos Tsitispas (who overcame 6-3 6 -4 Marcos Giron) and Cameron Norrie who instead got the better of Peter Gojowczyk for 6-1 6-0.