Medvedev halts Djokovic, Nadal wins at Monte Carlo
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic (2R, UP) and Russia’s Daniil Medvedev talk to each other at the end of the quarter final tennis match on the day 7 of the Monte-Carlo ATP Masters Series tournament on April 19, 2019 in Monaco. (Photo by YANN COATSALIOU / AFP)
Daniil Medvedev of Russia achieved his first victory in four career encounters with world number one and tournament top seed Novak Djokovic with a 6/3; 4/6; 6/2 upset to book a place in the semi-finals.
The second-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain defeated Guido Pella 7/6(1); 6/3 and stretched his career record to 3-0 against the player from Argentina.
After Nadal won the one-sided tie break in the first set, he broke Guido’s serve in the second and fifth games of the second set for a 4-1 lead. Guido did not get a point on Nadal’s serve in the sixth game.
Although he dropped the first point on serve and was behind 15-30, Guido reached 40-30 and won the seventh game. Serving for the match, Nadal made a double fault and fell behind 0-30. A second serve was crunched by Guido who broke Nadal’s serve for 3-5 score.
However, serving to stay in the match, Guido lost the first point. Although he leveled at 15-all, his serves were attacked by Nadal who reached 40-15. Guido saved the first match point with a first serve but lost the next point.
Nadal had won his 15th consecutive quarter-final in Monte Carlo and would face the winner of the match between Italy’s Fabio Fognini and Borna Coric of Croatia..
Monte Carlo’s location by the Mediterranean Sea makes for extremely windy conditions. Novak Djokovic complained of the dust getting in his eye. Nadal has always maintained that he is not affected by the wind as he grew up playing in Mallorca, also on the sea shore.
The 23-year old Medvedev’s victory over Djokovic portends a possible change of guards in the men’s game in 2019. Austria’s Dominic Thiem flagged the revolution by defeating Roger Federer in the season’s first Masters 1000 in Indian Wells.
The Swiss Maestro resurfaced in Miami but skipped the clay season opener in Monaco. Will Nadal keep the grip of the older generation by winning his 12th title in Monte Carlo?
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