Daniil Medvedev suffered an early scare during his opening match against Hubert Hurkacz at the ATP Finals in Turin.
The US Open champion was forced to rally from a set down to oust his Polish rival 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4, at the Pala Alpitour. Making it the second time he has done so against Hurkacz this year after their meeting at the Canadian Masters. Utilizing the court speed to his advantage, Medvedev won 83% of his first service points as he hit 31 winners against just eight unforced errors. Earning him his 55th win of the season.
“I think the crowd would have enjoyed it (the match) better if it (the court) was a little bit slower. I had zero break points to save, in a way I was never under pressure,” Medvedev said afterwards.
“ I had only two games on Hubert’s serve where I had break points. I’m super happy to make this work and managed to get both breaks.
”It’s really tough to play here. As soon as you make one good shot the point is probably almost over. So that’s what we both tried to do, to hit this one good shot and I managed to do it a little bit better.”
Heading into the clash, Hurkacz and Medvedev were tied at 1-1 in their head-to-head with both of those previous encounters going the full distance. Continuing the trend of close matches in Turin, there was little to distinguish between the two players throughout the opening set. After 12 games, both players won more than 70% of their service points and neither were yet to face a break point which paved the way for a crucial tiebreaker.
Hurkacz was the first to pounce after hitting a winning backhand volley that enabled him to grab an early 2-0 lead. Despite losing his mini lead a couple points later, the perseverance of the Pole eventually paid off. Coming to the net during points to end the rallies on his own terms, the world No.9 worked his way to a 6-2 lead. Once again Medvedev came back fighting but this time he was unable to draw level. Trailing 5-6, an unforced error from the Russian handed Hurkacz the first set.
The opener turned out to be a wake-up call for Medvedev who elevated his intensity in the second frame in what was an abrupt change in momentum. Winning 12 out of 15 points played, the world No.2 raced to a 3-0 lead. Serving to take the match into a decider, Medvedev showed his first sign of nerves with a couple of tentative shots resulting in him failing to convert a duo of set points. However, he prevailed on his third attempt after a Hurkacz shot slammed into the net. Prompting the bemused Pole to throw his racket in the air out of frustration.
Closing in on the victory, Medvedev continued to capitalize on some erratic hitting that was coming from across the court. It was a sole break at the start of the decider which guided Medvedev to the finish line.
“I feel that on this court there are not many tactics in place,” he said. “It’s a matter of who hits two good shots in a row and the point is probably going to be over. I just tried to do it better than the first set in the last two.”
Due to the format of the tournament, both players still have a chance of qualifying for the knockout stages with two more matches to be played in the round-robin later this week.
