Daniil Medvedev wins against Rafael Nadal 3-6 7-64 6-3 in the semifinal at the Nitto ATP Finals on Saturday. Medvedev will try to keep the momentum against Dominic Thiem in the final.
The crucial moment of the match was when Rafa failed to serve out the match when he was 6-3 5-4. The Spaniard lost the game at love. Later Daniil revealed
“I felt really strange until 5-4 for him in the second set, when he was serving for the match. It felt like I was doing great shots but there was no link in my game and that was why I was losing. He was better in the important moments, I couldn’t return in the important moments, I couldn’t make a good shot in the important moments.
I decided to change some small things. Just being closer, going for it a little bit more. I felt like I had the chances to win before some games, a set maybe, but it didn’t work, so I had to change and it worked really well. I am really happy about it.”
Live score progression and stats
The set was even with both players refusing to concede anything to the opposition. Eventually, the only discrepancy was one break that Nadal conquered in the 8th game (5-3) prior to eventually winning the set (6-3).
Rafael was clinical in converting the only break point that he conquered in the 8th game (4-3 0-40). On the other side, Daniil was spot on in converting all his break points in the 3rd game (1-1 40-A, 40-A and 40-A).
They played 58 points. Rafael won 6 more points than Daniil (32-26). Nadal dropped 14 points on serve (24-14). Regarding the other side of the net, Daniil conceded 8 points on serve (12-8).
Medvedev was quite dominant at the beginning of the set to break Nadal in the 2nd game (2-0) before consolidating his break and lead 3-0. However, that was not enough for the Russian to win the set because the Spaniard found the way to break back in the 7th (3-4) and in the 9th (5-4) game. The Russian maintained his focus before winning the set at the tiebreak at 4.
Yet also the Spaniard won 4 consecutive games from 1-4 to 5-4
Tiebreak
The Russian won 2 minibreaks in the 3rd (2-1) and 11th (7-4) point.
Medvedev won the tiebreak 7-4 after he conquered a decisive 4-2 lead.
This was the tiebreak sequence: 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 5-3, 6-3, 6-4, 7-4
Medvedev lost 8 points on serve (25-8). on the other side of the court, Nadal conceded 15 points on serve (24-15).
Medvedev won the set after he broke Rafael in the 7th (4-3) and in the 9th (6-3) game.
Nadal was dominated in the last 4 games of the set when the scoreline went from 2-3 to 6-3.
Medvedev converted 40% of his break points (2/5). He had 5 break points opportunities in the 1st (0-0 30-40), the 7th (3-3 30-40, 40-A and 40-A) and the 9th game (5-3 40-A). On the other side, Medvedev didn’t concede a single break point during this set.
They played 65 points. The Russian won 9 more points than Rafael (37-28). Medvedev dropped 6 points on serve (17-6). on the other side of the net, the Spaniard conceded 20 points on serve (22-20).
Stats: aces, double faults, breaks, winners
2h:35
At the end of the match, the Russian scored 105 points vs. Rafael’s 94.
Daniil served very well to win 77% of the points (44/57) behind his first serve. Notwithstanding he won only 48% points (12/25) on his second serve. The Russian struck 13 aces and he committed 3 double faults. The Russian won this match even if he wasn’t that great in converting his break points as he converted only 36% (4/11) of the procured opportunities. On the other side, Nadal was pretty good at converting 75% of the break points that he conquered points (3/4). Nonetheless, that was not enough to win the match.
After this match, the head to head between Medvedev and Nadal is 1-3 for Rafael.
Highlights Daniil Medvedev vs. Rafael Nadal Nitto ATP Finals – London
Draw and next match H2H: Daniil Medvedev vs. Dominic Thiem – stats
Medvedev will play Thiem in the final.
This will be the 5th time that Daniil Medvedev and Dominic Thiem face off. The head to head is 3-1 for Thiem (see full H2H stats), 1-0 on I.hard.
The last time that they locked horns, Thiem won 6-2 7-67 7-65 in the semifinal in New York back in September 2020.
Tennis Scores in Nitto ATP Finals
- Dominic ThiemThiem – Novak DjokovicDjokovic (7-5 6-710 7-65) – Stats and score progression
- Daniil MedvedevMedvedev – Rafael NadalNadal (3-6 7-64 6-3) – Stats and score progression
Upcoming matches
- Daniil MedvedevMedvedev – Dominic ThiemThiem (1-3) – H2H details and stats
