In the duel of the hard to beat, it was Daniil Medvedev who proved to be the strongest to win his thirteenth consecutive victory, this Friday in the semi-finals of the ATP 500 in Dubai against a hitherto undefeated Novak Djokovic in 2023. This big victory for the Russian confirms his return to the highest level. It is thanks to his confidence, the heaviness of his shots from the baseline and his incredible consistency in the rallies that he was able to win against the world No. 1 against whom he had lost the last four meetings.
The Serb, he struggled to find the right tactic against the Russian. By rising a lot, especially on serve and volley, he first wanted to shorten the exchanges so as not to enter the preferential sector of his opponent. But this way of not accepting the fight finally served him when it came to restoring intensity against this devil of Medvedev stainless from the bottom.
By rushing, and getting annoyed over the games, the Serb made many approximations (10 unforced errors in the forehand in the first set), while the Russian was the best when the rallies dragged on. In the first set, Djokovic offered his face-off twice, one of which at 4-2 on a game harvested by a horrible smash and two badly negotiated service-volleys.
Broken from the start of the second set, Djokovic was unable to catch up, despite his application on the return, not even managing to get any break point in this round. After his 21 points in a row the day before (!) to eliminate Coric, Medvedev offers himself the scalp of the world No. first ball). He will be opposed in the final to his compatriot Andrey Rublev, who won their last two head-to-head matches.
