Russian qualifier, Daniil Medvedev captured his first ATP World Tour Title after battling past Australian sensation Alex De Minaur 1-6 6-4 7-5 in Sydney.
The Russian got off to the worst possible start as he was broken three times during the course of the first set. The 18 year old Australian looked very impressive in his first ever ATP final and managed to create six break point opportunities as he took advantage of a lacklustre Russian. De Minaur eventually broke in the seventh game to grab the first set in 31 minutes.
However the world number 84 managed to survive the storm of his inexperienced Australian opponent and in the seventh game, created his first break point opportunities of the match. The Russian didn’t let his moment slip and proved clinical as he sealed the break of serve. The tall Russian displayed some big hitting as he levelled the match at one set all.
The momentum was firmly with Medvedev as he landed some powerful forehands as he stormed into a stunning 4-0 in the deciding set. He was starting to find his rhythm as a maiden ATP title seemed to be minutes away, right? Well according to the world number 167 the match wasn’t over yet. 4-0 became 4-3 as De Minaur took advantage of the Russian’s nerves.
The Australian’s attitude was very good for an 18 year old as he was very composed despite facing match point in the ninth game. De Minaur denied Medvedev the title, temporarily as he broke the isolated Russian to level the deciding set at 5-5.
However the ‘Blue Wall’s’ momentum was quickly snuffed out and Medvedev sealed another break of serve and held to love to capture his first ATP World Tour title. The Russian came through qualifying and won seven matches, which will give him a lot of confidence.
As for De Minaur his composure and fearless tennis will get him far in Tennis and just needs to build up experience and physicality to rise to the top of the Men’s game.
Both youngsters have exciting first round matches at the Australian Open as Daniil Medvedev plays another Australian in Thanasi Kokkinakis while Alex De Minaur plays 15th seed Tomas Berdych.
