It is never easy to face a tournament when you are the current champion and if not, ask Very happy Augerthat in the first litmus test he has had in the ATP 500 de Rotterdam he has said goodbye to the event and is left without the possibility of revalidating his crown. In front, Daniil Medvedev, much more determined from minute one of the game, reached the semifinals and was once again capable of defeating a top-10 player after five consecutive games without doing so. A streak that he ended with his victory over the Canadian 6-2, 6-4
As soon as the match began, Aliassime was seen with a very clear tactic, but it was not going to work for him. The Canadian did not want to get into the rally with Medvedev and was constantly looking for the net, especially with his service, where he served-volleyed both first and second. This went well for him on his first serve, but then Medvedev began to find a way to throw good passing balls, especially when he was playing second. For this reason, the first break opportunities came in the next turn for Aliassime, who managed to close them to get 2-1 on the scoreboard, which would be his last game in the set.
From there, Daniil put the rest one more gear and barely conceded points with his serve, which allowed him to have a fairly placid set. The Russian was able to win practically all the points from the baseline and that caused Aliassime to fall into more precipitations, since his tactic of going to the net was being affected greatly especially with his second serves, which made him tried to increase their speed, something that ended in numerous double faults that made Medvedev’s job even easier, who scored the set 6-2.
SAME SCRIPT IN THE SECOND SET
Felix Auger Aliassime tried, but could not find a way to change the course of the game. Medvedev continued to be very comfortable at all times and again broke his serve at the first change. The Canadian kept trying the serve-volley, but the truth is that each turn of service was being a real nightmare. With 2-1 in favor for the Russian, Aliassime sought to be more solid and look for his rival’s mistakes, a turn that worked for him at first, as he recovered the break, but with which he could not do anything against a Medvedev who remained faithful in your style.
With fewer uploads to the net, but with the same feeling of being surpassed, Aliassime tried to cheer up and hold on to the game as it was, but the truth is that once again in a service turn where the first ones did not enter him, the Russian returned to take the break and leave the game practically sentenced. In fact, the Canadian practically threw in the towel when he saw that there was no way to break his rival, who hardly made any mistakes and also managed to always hit one more ball. Finally, the Russian closed the sleeve 6-4 and with this the match.
This victory leaves Daniil Medvedev very close to returning to the top 10 and also restores his confidence after a difficult 2022, where he failed to win practically any game against important rivals. With his ticket to the semifinals secured, he will fight for a place in the last round of the tournament against Grigor Dimitrov, a clash of styles between two rivals who came to Rotterdam badly in need of wins.
