Daniil Medvedev won 75% of points behind his first serve along with seven aces and proved too consistent in the baseline rallies as he defeated veteran Stan Wawrinka 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free ATP500 Tennis Championships – but Jack Draper and Alexander Bublik failed to progress.
Medvedev broke serve first to go 2-1 ahead when Wawrinka’s backhand went wide into the tramlines and then broke again for a 4-1 lead, this time when the Swiss hit a forehand wide. Although he retrieved one of the breaks back, he was broken again and Medvedev served out with an ace to take the opener.
The pair traded breaks at the start of the second set – with Wawrinka blasting one of his famous backhand winners down the line on breakpoint – but the Russian held firm and broke in the critical seventh game for a 4-3 lead and again to take the match and improve to 4-2 in their head-to-head rivalry.
After the match, the 40-year-old Swiss legend – who is retiring this year – stayed on court to soak in the support from the crowd and took part in a short farewell ceremony where he received a traditional daggar, a commemorative cake and a framed picture collage of his appearances in Dubai over the years.
“I came here for the first time more than 15 years ago and I always feel really welcome,” said Wawrinka. “It was amazing for me to have one last chance, one last opportunity, to play here. I will always have amazing memories from here at the tournament. It’s my last time here, but I always had amazing support from you guys. It’s always special. The reason why I kept playing for so long is because of those emotions that I receive on court, but I think at 40 it’s time to play for one last year. I’m enjoying it a lot and hopefully I will see some of you throughout the year.”
Meanwhile Draper’s comeback on the tour came to an abrupt end as he was beaten by an inspired Arthur Ridnerknech who didn’t drop serve throughout the contest. The Frenchman won 100 points which lasted under nine shots compared to 99 from the British number one, who hit only 18 unforced errors compared to 30 from Rinderknech.
It was a solid start from both players who were serving big behind both serves. Draper applied serious pressure with the score at 5-5 in the first but Rinderknech battled to save both breakpoints he faced and held. Draper – who has spent over six months off tour and revealed he was excited by competing again – had a sudden lapse in concentration and fell 0-30 down while trying to enter the tie-break and was broken to lose the first set.
Although he regrouped and won the second set tie-breaker – including a superb forehand winner to go 4-1 up – he lost serve early in the third and Rinderknech continued serving superbly to seal a fantastic performance in a match finishing well past midnight.
“Jack was playing great, it was frustrating because he was serving really well, a lefty in these pretty fast conditions,” said Rinderknech. “I had to keep working and focussing on my serve and dig deep in the end. It was nice to play offensive tennis and especially in great conditions like this. It’s a great tournament and really comfortable for the players to have the good balls and good courts, which doesn’t happen often.”
On court 1, Tallon Griekspoor overcame a 0-4 head-to-head record to register his first win over Alexander Bublik 6-3, 7-6. He was quick out of the blocks and broke serve immediately and held throughout to take the first. He fell 0-40 down on his opening serve in the second set but recovered and took the match in the tie-break.
“Bublik is very locked in when he plays,” said Griekspoor. “And it pays off for him and he’s an unbelievable player. I lost to him four times in a row, all of them were close, like a lot of tie breaks. He got me in all of those, I just had to focus on myself, play my own games as good as possible, and wait for my chances. Sometimes it felt like I was playing in Kazakhstan [due to the crowd], but I enjoyed it a lot. Those are the matches, the atmosphere that you practice for, and you want to play in.”
In other results:
Jakub Mensik beat Alexi Popyrin 6-3, 6-2
Jenson Brooksby beat Karen Khachanov 7-6, 6-4
Jiri Lehecka beat Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6, 6-4
Andrey Rublev beat Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-7, 6-3
Felix Auger-Aliassime beat Giovanni Mpetshi-Perricard 6-4, 6-4
