Google News ATP Rome: Medvedev, Rune and the semifinals HIGHLIGHTS
by LORENZO CIOTTI | VIEW 1105
Daniil Medvedev has decided that he also wants to become a specialist on red clay, winning the final of the Italian Open, in Rome, after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals with the result of 7-5 7-5. A match that gives technical ideas up to a certain point.
The real problem is that the Greek tennis player didn't really manage to enter the court, especially when the two were stopped for hours at 4-4 in the first set due to the rain. The Roland Garros finalist lost, the US Open champion remained in the match.
So in the first partial, so also in the second. Only an empty pass by the Russian gave the Greek the counter break, but the number three in the world recovered immediately to conquer the most important final on this surface in his career.
He will face Holger Rune, who won his semifinal against Casper Ruud in a comeback, with the result of 6-7 6-4 6-3. The first set is the manifesto of the best version of the Norwegian in this difficult 2023: the Grand Slam finalist makes very little mistakes, compared to the young Danish talent who too often misses the right choice to make.
The first serve and the few errors are the key to the top seed of this semifinal to hand him a tiebreak, which he dominated even more than a set that has always been in his favor. A Scandinavian derby of the highest quality in the first set drops dramatically, a race to see who makes the most mistakes, up to 2-2.
In the fifth game, Ruud manages to get a fundamental break, but that becomes useless. Medical time out by Rune at 4-2, who only benefits from this break: four consecutive games, two breaks and a partial win, postponing everything to the decisive set.
Here, the trend of the first set is completely reversed. Ruud gets everything wrong, Rune nothing: even those drop shots that were poisonous in the first phase of the match in this new set become perfect. A match point is enough for the Dane, on Ruud's serve, to close his semifinal.
