Each Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas served candy revenge on the Shanghai Masters on Friday, vanquishing previous foes in straight units as they progressed by way of to the third spherical. World quantity 5 Medvedev got here from behind in each units to beat Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild 7-5, 7-5, whereas Tsitsipas battled by way of a decent match in opposition to Japan’s Kei Nishikori to win 7-6 (8/6), 6-4. Medvedev and Seyboth Wild have solely met as soon as earlier than, nevertheless it was memorable. The Russian, then world quantity two, was unceremoniously ejected from the 2023 French Open by qualifier Seyboth Wild within the first spherical. The tenacious Brazilian didn’t make it simple for Medvedev on Friday, setting the tone by breaking first to drag 1-3 forward.
However Medvedev persevered, making up the hole after which getting a vital break within the eleventh recreation, earlier than profitable the set 7-5.
Seyboth Wild pulled forward early within the second set too, however once more Medvedev caught him and repeated his earlier feat.
“It was not simple,” Medvedev mentioned on courtroom after the match. “Thiago performed nice… some pictures have been unbelievable.”
“It was a really powerful night time and I am very glad I used to be capable of keep in it… and provides him stress.”
Tsitsipas — who suffered a shock defeat to Nishikori in Montreal in August — mentioned he was completely happy along with his personal “nice preventing spirit”.
The Greek, as soon as ranked third on the planet, has slipped out of the ATP high 10 in latest months to now stand at twelfth.
The loss in August to Nishikori, who’s a former world quantity 4 however was ranked 576th in the beginning of the Montreal match, was adopted swiftly by Tsitsipas dropping his father as coach after publicly criticising him.
“I did need to put out a struggle and I wished to point out that I can go on the market and play a great match in opposition to (Nishikori),” the 26-year-old mentioned Friday.
The match was intently fought, with the primary set ending with a nail-biting tiebreaker that might have gone both method.
“With the ability to win (the tiebreaker), coming again and serving to me win the primary set was an necessary and important second,” Tsitsipas instructed reporters after the match.
“Overcoming it was good, as a result of it felt like I used to be capable of restart now with a brand new mindset and it helped me get a little bit of confidence.”
Within the second set, 34-year-old Nishikori, who has been plagued in latest seasons by damage, required a medical time-out.
Regardless of encouragement from the gang, he by no means recovered his momentum and Tsitsipas received 4 of the final 5 video games to shut out the match.
There was one upset late Friday, when world quantity 9 Casper Ruud was defeated by 91st ranked Australian Aleksandar Vukic in straight units.
The loss comes on the heels of one other early exit for the Norwegian on the Japan Open in late September.
Vukic mentioned he was “very proud”.
“It was at all times going to be a really powerful match, however I am enjoying effectively so I did not actually need to change a lot, simply keep on with my recreation plan,” the 28-year-old mentioned.
“I used to be very nervous, which is regular… I attempted to get it out of my system, grunted just a little extra,” he laughed.
Earlier within the day, People Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul booked locations within the third spherical with out an excessive amount of hassle.
Shelton beat Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 7-5, whereas Paul took out Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-3.
Veteran Frenchman Gael Monfils will face compatriot Ugo Humbert within the subsequent spherical, after his victory over Argentina’s Sebastian Baez.
The 38-year-old Monfils fought off his 23-year-old opponent 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
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Stefanos Tsitsipas
Tennis
