Rotardam
World number seven Danil Medvedev presented a tough challenge and returned to the ATP Rotardam Open by defeating Swiss star Stan Wawrinka in the match between two former winners. The second preferred player registered a thrilling 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6–1 over fellow champions Wawrinka despite losing two set points in the first set. However, for the first time he made a good comeback to enter the second round at the Indoor Hard-Court ATP500 event after winning the title in 2023. In other matches of the round of 32 of the event, the sixth seeding Greek player playing on the wildcard, Stephanos Sitapas, defeated France’s qualifier Herold Mayot 6-1,7-5 in straight sets, while the eighth seed Hubert Harkaz of Poland Center Court But in the 77-minute match, it defeated Flavio Caboli of Italy 6-3,6-2. Italy’s qualifier Matia Beluchi defeated Mees Rotgering of Netherlands 6-3, 6–2 in another match of the Netherlands on Monday night to enter the pre-quarterfinals.
Medvedev vs. Wawrinka focus on the match, as both are former champions and Medvedev was returning to this event after a few years. The 2015 title winner Wawrinka performed brilliantly in Rotardam, but finally ended his energy due to Medvedev’s victory line. The next match of 28 -year -old Medvedev will be against Italian qualifier Matia Beluchi. If Medvedev succeeds in winning the title this week, it will be his first title after 2023 ATP Masters 1000 in Rome. This will also be the first time that former world number 1 player has won the same event twice, while his last 20 titles have come in different tournaments.
After beating Medvedev in the last two ATP matches, Wawrinka realized the further challenge and her game plan was clear from the beginning. 39 -year -old Wawrinka not only participated in long rallies, but he attacked Medvedev with his constant aggression. Wawrinka stopped the set point of 29 shots, double the opener’s longest rally, established his dominance and fulfilled the point in the forecourt. He used this pattern of the game to harass Medvedev most of the first set of 69 minutes, during which the Swiss player won 12 out of 17 points on the net.
Medvedev returned to the toilet brake at the end of the first set as a completely separate player. In the PIF ATP rankings, number 7 increased its aggression level, which gradually started making more mistakes from Wawrinka and there was a huge decrease in the number of winners, which fell from 16 to 5 between two sets.
As the match proceeded, Wawrinka had to struggle to re-find the range of winners from all angles of the court in the first set. Medvedev performed brilliantly in the final set, in which he did not face a single break point.
