Medvedev claims Los Cabos title as Rublev falls

IT was a mixed bag for the Russians across the ATP Tour, with world number one Daniil Medvedev claiming his 14th career title. In what was Medvedev’s first title since winning last year’s US Open, the top seed shook off an early challenge from Brit Cameron Norrie to win the last eight games of the Los Cabos ATP 250 final and record a 7-5 6-0 victory.

Medvedev served five aces and won 67 and 69 per cent of his first and second serve points off a 67 per cent clip. After being 5-5 in the first set, the Russian stepped up to another level as Norrie’s serve completely broke down. He took control in the second set, only dropped two points off serve, and limiting Norrie to just eight points for the set, breaking him three times in a bagel set to win the tournament.

“Every match was very good, but the final is always special,” Medvedev said post-match. “In the final you play the best player of this week, so it’s always a high-level match and I’m really happy that I managed to show some good level, some good shots in such an important match.”

After losing his past five finals, Medvedev was able to get back on the winners’ list and notch up another title to extend his grasp on the number one rank. Unfortunately the news was not as promising for his compatriot, Andrey Rublev who suffered a shock loss at the hands of Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka. The Japanese world 96 has rolled a number of Top 30 players in tournament, with his scalps being Jenson Brooksby, Alex de Minaur, Karen Khachanov and Dan Evans, but his 6-3 6-4 semi-final win over Rublev was his best. He now takes on powerful Australian Nick Kyrgios who reached another final, defeating Swede Mikael Ymer, 7-6 6-3.

On the WTA Tour, both the finals at San Jose and Washington were decided. In the WTA 500 event at San Jose, American Shelby Rogers will have the crowd support when she takes on seventh seed Russian Daria Kasatkina. Rogers defeated Kasatkina’s compatriot Veronika Kudermetova 6-3 6-4, while her final opponent took out second seed Paula Badosa in a huge upset, 6-2 6-4. In Washington, sixth seed Kaia Kanepi knocked off Australian Daria Saville 6-3 6-1, while Russian Liudmila Samsonova ended the remarkable run of Chinese lucky loser, Xiyu Wang, 6-1 6-1.

AROUND THE TOUR RESULTS:

Washington – ATP 500 | Hard

Semi-Finals:

Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) defeated [1] Andrey Rublev (RUS) 6-3 6-4
Nick Kyrgios (AUS) defeated Mikael Ymer (SWE) 7-6 6-3

Los Cabos – ATP 250 | Hard

Final:

[1] Daniil Medvedev (RUS) defeated [3] Cameron Norrie (GBR) 7-5 6-0

San Jose – WTA 500 | Hard

Semi-Finals:

[7] Daria Kasatkina (RUS) defeated [2] Paula Badosa (ESP) 6-2 6-4
Shelby Rogers (USA) defeated [9] Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) 6-3 6-4

Washington – WTA 250 | Hard

Semi-Finals:

[6] Kaia Kanepi (EST) defeated Daria Saville (AUS) 6-3 6-1
Liudmila Samsonova (RUS) defeated [LL] Xiyu Wang (CHN) 6-1 6-1

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments