Medvedev Earns Carreno Busta Revenge In Cincinnati
Daniil Medvedev continued his pursuit of the Toronto-Cincinnati ATP Masters 1000 double with a commanding win over Pablo Carreno Busta Friday to charge into the Western & Southern Open semi-finals.
The Russian avenged his loss at the Tokyo Olympics to the eventual bronze medallist with a 6-1, 6-1 win in just 54 minutes to claim his 40th match win of the year.
“That is why we like tennis, because it is made of many, many different small details,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview. “Different conditions, different balls. I played much better today than I did there [at the Tokyo Olympics]. I am really happy to win here and gain a small [bit of] revenge.
“I was feeling great during the match. In these conditions, you try to win the match as fast as possible, especially against Carreno Busta, who can catch fire at any moment and start getting you into long rallies. I tried to keep pushing him and I am really happy I managed to do it.”
The World No. 2, who defeated big-serving American Reilly Opelka to lift his fourth ATP Masters 1000 crown in Toronto last week, was dominant against Carreno Busta. Medvedev overpowered the Spaniard with his flat groundstrokes to extend his winning streak to eight matches as he aims to become just the seventh male player in the Open Era to capture the Toronto-Cincinnati double.
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Medvedev enjoyed a dream run in 2019 to his maiden Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati, and is yet to drop a set this week in Ohio as his love affair with the North American hard-court event continues. The Australian Open finalist will next face countryman Andrey Rublev after the fourth seed overcame Benoit Paire earlier on Friday.
“[There is] lots of intensity when you play Andrey," Medvedev added. "He has been playing great since the restart of tennis, only ups, so it is going to be a great match. Of course, I want to be on top.”
The 25-year-old has won trophies in Mallorca on grass and in Marseille on hard this year, while he also helped guid Russia to the ATP Cup title in February. Medvedev will compete in his second Masters 1000 semi-final of the season on Saturday.
Medvedev broke the Spaniard in the second game of the match to set up a 4-1 lead after just 12 minutes. With the temperature and humidity soaring at the Lindner Family Tennis Centre, the Russian showed little interest in a prolonged battle with Carreno Busta, wrapping up the opener in just 20 minutes. Medvedev won all 13 first-serve points and closed out the set with one of the nine aces he hit in the match.
The Russian continued to dictate in the second set, hitting with relentless depth and accuracy to move 4-0 ahead as he put 84 per cent of serves into play in the match. Medvedev fired 20 winners in the clash and committed just seven unforced errors compared to Carreno Busta's 24 to seal his victory.
Carreno Busta, who was competing in his first Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season, did not drop a set en route to his clash with Medvedev. The seventh seed lifted his first ATP 500 trophy earlier this year in Hamburg and also captured the Marbella title on home soil in Spain in April.