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Rising Russian star Daniil Medvedev claims he entered his Davis Cup clash against Swiss Henri Laaksonen expecting a tough encounter. Medvedev, ranked at No. 16 in the world, was tasted heavily by world No. 142 Laaksonen but managed to avoid a shock defeat as he won 7-6 (8) 6-7 (6) 6-2 on an indoor-clay surface in Biel.
Laaksonen broke Medvedev in the opening game of the match but the Russian broke back in the sixth game as the set went into a tie-break -- where the world No. 16 saved a set point before he converted his fourth set point to clinch the opener.
The Swiss trailed 6-5 in the third-set tie-break, before he won three points in a row to save a match point and force a third set -- where he stood no chance as Medvedev cruised past the decider. "I'm not surprised at how tough it was today, I wasn't playing too well all week, but I won so I'm happy," Medvedev said post-match, per Swiss Tennis Twitter.
On the other side, Laaksonen didn't hide his disappointment post-match as he said, per Swiss Tennis Twitter: "I had my chances but missed them, it's a pity I couldn't make it. Not very happy with how the 3rd set went. I've still things to improve." Laaksonen, 26, achieved his career-high ranking of No.
93 in 2017. "I think I'm going in the right direction, I know I can play better and hope to be back in the Top-100 soon. I've worked hard on many things in the off-season," Laaksonen claimed. Also read: Richard Gasquet pulls out of Rotterdam
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