Tenis: SF Preview: Tsitsipas dispuesto a superar el ‘obstáculo’ de Medvedev

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Siempre parece haber mucho en juego cuando Daniil Medvedev y Stefanos Tsitsipas se enfrentan en una cancha de tenis.

De hecho, de su historial de nueve partidos, todos los encuentros menos uno se han producido en el nivel ATP Masters 1000, Nitto ATP Finals o Grand Slam. El enfrentamiento del sábado en el Western & Southern Open, que será su décimo encuentro, no es una excepción, un puesto en la final de 2022 pende de un hilo.

El No. 1 del mundo Medvedev tiene una ventaja de 7-2 en el ATP Head2Heads.

“Es uno de los mejores”, dijo el sembrado No. 4 Tsitsipas, quien avanzó a su tercera semifinal consecutiva de Cincinnati con una apretada decisión de 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3 sobre el finalista de 2013 John Isner. “Voy a tener que jugar mi juego. Por supuesto, un obstáculo como Daniil nunca es fácil, pero voy a tratar de mantenerme concentrado, tratar de abordar mi juego de la manera más precisa y mejor. Dejaré que mi tenis hable, y el resto se presentará si es algo que merezco”.

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Medvedev, quien será el máximo favorito en el US Open a finales de este mes, sigue demostrando su valía en los grandes momentos. En su despido por 7-6(1), 6-3 del estadounidense Taylor Fritz en cuartos de final, mejoró a 20-6 en desempates en eventos ATP Masters 1000.

«Eso es genial, porque un desempate es algo divertido», dijo Medvedev, en su primera semifinal de Masters 1000 del año. “Lo llamamos una ‘lotería’. Creo que es un poco así. Recuerdo cuando tuve mi carrera loca en 2019 [when he reeled of six straight finals]gané muchos desempates [11] en una fila. Luego recuerdo un momento de mi carrera en el que perdí cinco o seis seguidos. Ahora he vuelto a ganar mucho. Solo trato de hacer lo mejor que puedo, jugar cada punto. Seguro, pierdes algo, ganas algo. Pero 20-6 es un buen récord. Estoy feliz por eso”.

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Medvedev, a titlist here during that unheard-of run in 2019, claimed their most recent encounter, a 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 semi-final victory in January at the Australian Open.

“I’m happy with my level,” said the 26-year-old World No. 1. “If I can continue to play this way, and especially during the match raise my level, I can beat anybody.”

Medvedev leads the four semi-finalists in the INSIGHTS Steal metric, having won 34 per cent of his points from defence this week. Tsitsipas paces the pack in Conversion rate after seeing home 76.1 per cent of points from attack. The Greek also tops the chart with a 26.1 per cent In Attack score, which shows that he’s played more than a quarter of his shots in attack in reaching the semis. Learn more about INSIGHTS.

Limited to just nine matches in 2021, and only 16 thus far in 2022, Borna Coric is suddenly resembling the player who once climbed as high as No. 12 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Back in business after recovering from shoulder surgery, the 26-year-old Croat is through to his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final in four years, having pushed aside the Top-10 likes of Rafael Nadal (7-6(9), 4-6, 6-3) and Felix Auger-Aliassime (6-4, 6-4).

Credit the work he’s put in outside of match play, especially on the serve. Against Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-finals, Coric hit eight aces to just one double fault, and won an astounding 97 per cent (31 of 32) of his first-serve points.

“I was serving a lot last week,” said Coric, who after an opening-round, 6-3, 6-2 loss to countryman Marin Cilic in Montreal, put in some serious hours on the practice court. “I took the risk with my shoulder. I never know how much I can serve, but I just took the risk and was practising really hard.”

Next up for Coric, who has surged 86 places to No. 66 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, is 9th seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain. It marks the left-hander’s second career ATP Masters 1000 semi-final after winning Indian Wells last October.

“He’s a great competitor,” said Norrie, who is up to a career-high No. 9 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings and who can move to No. 8 with a title or runner-up finish. “He’s really got some good level. I’ve watched him quite a lot this week. He beat Rafa, obviously, the other day. He’s playing some of his top level. He’s won his matches very comfortably, so he’s going to be feeling pretty fresh and ready to go.”

The foes split their two previous meetings, with Norrie prevailing in the Round of 16 in Shenzhen in 2018, 6-4, 7-6(8), and Coric taking a 6-2, 6-2 second-round decision in Rome in 2019.  

Starting the week at No. 152, Coric is the second-lowest-ranked Cincinnati semi-finalist since 1973 (No. 203 Byron Bertram, 1975).

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