Danil Medvedev rallied past James Duckworth 6-7 (8-10) 6-2 6-3 to reach his first hard-court final since Indian Wells last year at the Almaty Open, backing up his recent good period of form following his recent semifinals in Beijing and Shanghai. Medvedev has reached the 40th tour level final of his career becoming the second active male player after Novak Djokovic to achieve this feat.
Medvedev is aiming to win his first ATP Tour title since his win at the Masters 1000 tournament in Rome.
Medvedev has boosted his chance to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. The Russian player is currently ranked 13th in the ATP Live Race to Turin.
Duckworth was aiming to reach his second final at this tournament since 2021, when it was held in Astana. The Australian player came through the qualifying round and rose 30 spots to world number 108 in the ATP Rankings.
Duckworth saved two set points at 6-7 and 7-8 in the tie-break of the first set before edging Medvedev 10-8 to clinch the first set.
Medvedev converted his third break point in the sixth game of the second set to take a 4-2 lead and served out on his set point in the ninth game forcing the match to the decider.
Medvedev broke twice in the first and seventh games and sealed the third set 6-2 on his second match point.
Medvedev has improved to 2-0 in his head-to-head matches against Duckworth.
“I think the level was incredible today, from both me and my opponent. In the tie-break, I could have played better, but it happens. Throughout the match, there were some amazing points from both of us, so I’m really happy to be able to win this match”, said Medvedev.
Medvedev set up a final against Corentin Moutet, who beat Alex Michelsen 7-5 6-4.
Michelsen broke serve in the second game to race out to a 3-0 lead. Moutet broke back at love in the fifth game and saved two break points to hold serve at deuce in the sixth game for 3-3. Moutet converted his third break point in in the 11th game to take a 6-5 lead and served out 7-5 on his third set point.
Moutet went up a break in the third game of the second set to take a 2-1 lead. Michelsen converted his fourth break-back point in the next game to draw level to 2-2. Moutet broke for the second time in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Michelsen saved two break points to hold serve for in the seventh game at deuce for 3-4. Moutet served out the second set 6-4 on his second match point in the 10th game.
