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Third seed has not lost a set in two Red Group wins
In a battle of former Nitto ATP Finals champions, Daniil Medvedev continued his recent run of success against Alexander Zverev to become the first man to book a place in this year's Turin semi-finals.

The third seed edged his German opponent 7-6(7), 6-4 on Wednesday night, earning his fifth win in six Lexus ATP HeadHead matchups between the pair this season and improving to 11-7 overall against Zverev. Medvedev also moved to 3-2 against Zverev at the Nitto ATP Finals, with the pair nearing Pete Sampras and Boris Becker's record of seven matchups at the season finale.

“It was a very tough match mentally,” said Medvedev in his on-court interview. “I started very well, I was playing well. He was kind of not there yet, but at one moment he stepped up his game and at this moment, for whatever reason, I started playing a little bit worse for a short period of time.

“I’m happy that I managed to regroup and play better at the end of the first set. The end of both sets was very tight... In the tie-break he had set point on his serve. I’m happy because this year I might have lost some matches like this. I’m happy to be able to win.”


The 2020 Nitto ATP Finals champ beat the 2018 and 2021 titlist in a match of fine margins, with Medvedev saving two set points in a tense opening-set tie-break and fighting off a break point late in set two.

Medvedev was locked in from the first ball and eased to an early 2-0 lead, but Zverev came on strong from the middle of the opening set by countering Medvedev's metronomic baseline game with aggressive swings and well-times net approaches. The German missed a sitter volley that would have put him 5/1 up in the tie-break before both players traded costly miscues from 5/5 — Medvedev sailing an overhead long before Zverev flubbed a forehand on his first set point.

A moment of brilliance decided the set, when the ranging Medvedev lasered a down-the-line forehand that his opponent could not handle at the net.

Set two was ticking quickly towards a second tie-break with both players dominant on serve, until Medvedev fought off the first break point of the set to hold for 5-4. He opened the ensuing game with an ingenious lob off an overhead swing from beyond the baseline and closed out the match soon after, a brilliant backhand pass bringing up match point.


Medvedev was dominant on first serve against Zverev, winning 40 of 51 points (78%) when landing his first delivery. He also saved three of four break points against him while converting on both of his break chances — in the first and final game of the one-hour, 45-minute match.

The statistics show that Zverev was the aggressor for most of the match with 26 winners and an 18-of-31 success rate on net approaches. But Medvedev's performance in the clutch moments — on break points and late in both sets — made the difference.

Medvedev will next face Carlos Alcaraz, who beat Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-2 earlier on Wednesday to move to 1-1 in group play.

“I saw his match today against Andrey and he played much better than in the first match," Medvedev said of the Spaniard. "He was missing less, doing amazing winners from far out like he can. I hope that I feel good tomorrow and I’m ready to fight. This tournament is tricky, because I’m into the semis, but you want to keep the rhythm.”

Third seed meets Alcaraz on Friday
Daniil Medvedev became the first man to qualify for the semi-finals this year in Turin with his Wednesday win against Alexander Zverev. The third seed has won all four sets he's played at the Nitto ATP Finals in building a 2-0 group-stage record, and he's eager to build on that success when he meets Carlos Alcaraz on Friday.

"I'm going to try my best to play Carlos," Medvedev said, acknowledging the fact that his progress to the knockout rounds is already sealed. "The moment you relax and say to yourself, 'Maybe this match I can go easier,' you can lose all the rhythm. That's how tennis is."


Medvedev saw first-hand the value of maintaining winning momentum in his Turin meeting with Novak Djokovic last year. The Serbian was 2-0 entering that matchup and already through to the semis, just like Medvedev is now. But Djokovic did not give an inch in a three-set battle, ultimately winning a final-set tie-break before claiming his record-tying sixth Nitto ATP Finals crown two matches later.

"Novak last year against me, [it was] physically a very tough match.," Medvedev said. "He could have said at one moment, 'Whatever, I lose the match, I'm still first place.' But he didn't. I think it's a great example for me to try to do just my best on Friday and try to win."

While the result will not affect Medvedev's progress to the semi-finals, it will be crucial for the fate of both Alcaraz and Zverev. Both players enter the final round of group play at 1-1, with Zverev set to meet Andrey Rublev to close his group campaign.

"On Friday, I'll be the No. 1 Daniil Medvedev fan there is on the planet — for a change," Zverev said with a smile, after a fifth defeat in six Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with Medvedev this season.


Asked about Zverev's comments, Medvedev understood his rival's sentiment.

"That's normal. He wants to go through," he said. "For sure, if I beat Carlos, it's going to be the best for him. So it's normal. I would be the same. I can see him looking the match. If I miss going, 'No, why did he miss!' Same if I win points."

So what will it take to secure the result both he and Zverev crave?

"I think against [Alcaraz] — especially the way he played today, better than two days ago — you have to be at your best," Medvedev said, echoing comments he made before beating the Spaniard in the US Open semi-finals. "You have to serve well. Here [on the fast court], there is an opportunity... You can serve aces against him like Sascha did. So I need to play fast. I need to make winners before he does it.

"Today he was [playing] pretty well. It's going to be a good continuation of a test. I beat two good opponents and I have another one in two days. I'm going to try to do my best."

Pair meets on Friday afternoon at Nitto ATP Finals In Turin
If a long tried-and-tested approach does not seem to be working, do you stick with it, or twist?

That could have been the dilemma for Daniil Medvedev earlier this year after he fell to consecutive heavy defeats against Carlos Alcaraz in Indian Wells and at Wimbledon, respectively. Medvedev struggled to counter Alcaraz’s top-class net play and use of drop shots in both matches, leading to suggestions that he may need to alter his trademark deep return position in order to beat the Spaniard.

Yet Medvedev is not one to question his own game, which has helped him earn 20 tour-level titles and made him a No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. He ignored any external calls to stand further forward to counter Alcaraz’s serve-and-volley charges, and he was vindicated in style at the US Open semi-finals in September, when he ousted the Spaniard across four sets in New York.

“That was a great feeling, because for sure before the match, especially against someone like Carlos, everyone on the internet was saying, ‘He has no chance if he doesn't change his position’,” Medvedev told ATPTour.com. “You always have a chance. It's just that against some types of players, maybe you're going to be a little bit more vulnerable.”


Medvedev is 2-0 at this week's Nitto ATP Finals after defeating Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev in Turin. On Friday, he plays Alcaraz in his final match in Red Group, the pair's fifth Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. The World No. 3 will hope the result echoes their most recent clash in New York, as opposed to their two opening encounters of 2023.

Medvedev won just five games against Alcaraz across two sets in the Indian Wells final in March, and nine games across three sets in the pair’s Wimbledon semi-final. While those results were disappointing, they were also learning experiences for Medvedev, who felt that the spacious environment of Arthur Ashe Stadium might also help him as he prepared for the US Open clash.

“Before the match, I was like, ‘Okay, I see what he's doing’,” said Medvedev. “I think maybe on this court at the US Open, maybe I'm going to be okay returning from far and I’m going to be able to put him in trouble.

“If I saw that was not the case during the match, I might have had to change it, but at Wimbledon I tried to change my position on the return, and it didn't work at all. Especially on grass, it's tough to change things up during the match. At the US Open I straightaway felt like, ‘Wow, I feel like I can do something from this position. I can put him in trouble’.”

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Although he has not made any significant change to his routine on return, it does not mean Medvedev is not open to new ideas. As coach Gilles Cervara revealed to ATPTour.com at the US Open, the pair looked at a return position closer to the baseline when they first started working together, although it ultimately proved a no-go.

“For sure there were some moments when we tried to work on different things,” recalled Medvedev. “Sometimes I can be against it. I don't remember exactly, but usually what happens is at the beginning, I'm like, "Yeah, whatever. Why are we doing this?’ But then I try to do it well, so it’s good work anyway. Then the question is, do I do it in the match or not?”

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Besides, Medvedev does adopt opponent-dependent changes to his return position, even if they are not obvious to the untrained eye.

“I think people can see that there are some matches where I go a little bit closer to the baseline, depending on the conditions,” he said. “There are some conditions where you're going to break a guy maybe only one or two times in a three-set match.

“I don’t care if I return close to the baseline and I always get one or two points because of it, but then I miss the other three returns and he always wins the game at 40/30. I prefer to maybe lose three games at 40/0, where he's going to do serve and volley or something. But then there is going to be this one game where he's going to get a little tight, I’m going to get one or two returns, and I break.

“So it's always this constant thinking, ‘How should I do it?’ Sometimes after the match, I can think, ‘I should have done it differently’, when I lose. You never know if it's going to work, but I do change sometimes. Sometimes [my changes] are bigger, so maybe people can notice, sometimes not.”

Of course, whether or not to adjust a game plan for a specific opponent is not a dilemma unique to Medvedev. In fact, his return position makes the World No. 3 himself a particularly tricky proposition to prepare for, something he believes helped him this year become champion in Miami for the first time.

“I remember in Indian Wells, Alcaraz beat me quite easily doing a lot of drop shots,” recalled Medvedev. “Then in Miami the next week, everyone against me was trying to do a lot of drop shots, but they don’t do it the same. So I was just running there and hitting winners.”

Despite Friday's loss, World No. 3 advances to last four
After just 80 minutes on court Friday, Daniil Medvedev suffered his first loss of this year’s Nitto ATP Finals. But the World No. 3 is not dwelling on the defeat to Carlos Alcaraz, nor does he have time to. Medvedev is keeping a short memory, turning his attention to tomorrow's semi-final showdown against home favourite Jannik Sinner.

“For sure I would love to win this match, but it didn't happen. Now I have to forget it very fast and try to focus only on tomorrow,” said Medvedev, who finished second in Red Group. “At this moment, the only thing that is left is I have a match quite soon, less than 24 hours. I have to only [think] after I leave this room, ‘How do I beat Jannik tomorrow?’”

Prior to October, Medvedev was 6-0 against Sinner in their Lexus ATPHead2Head series. But with the Italian defeating him in the Beijing and Vienna championship matches, Medvedev is aiming to end his two-match skid against Sinner.

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“At this moment he's in top form. The results prove it. He can do everything,” Medvedev said. “He can serve-and-volley, but at the same time he can stay at the baseline and be very good. Some dropshots, slice, down the line, cross. He can do every shot and that's why he's a top player.

“I felt like in Vienna I made a good response to what he did in Beijing, but I still lost. I need to be even better, to respond better to his shots. I need to definitely be at my absolute best and better than today.”

Medvedev’s 6-4, 6-4 defeat to World No. 2 Alcaraz moved the Spaniard to 3-2 in their Lexus ATPHead2Head series. Medvedev ousted Alcaraz in the US Open semi-finals and stated in his on-court interview, ‘I played 12 out of 10.’ After Friday's defeat, Medvedev was once again asked to rate his performance versus the two-time major champion.

“I would give myself 8.5, which is a pretty good score, but it's not enough to beat Carlos,” Medvedev said. “The mindset was the same. As I said coming into this match, you don't want to lose a match before playing semis. It's not the best feeling to lose a match. Your body reacts differently. Now I have to kind of regroup myself for tomorrow.”

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One tactic Alcaraz employed was moving forward to counter Medvedev’s deep court positioning, often serve-and-volleying to apply pressure on the World No. 3.

“I think it's kind of a good tactic against me, but you have to be good at the net,” Medvedev said. “For example, Sascha [Zverev], for me he's a very good player at the net. Carlos was able to do some sliding volleys today. Maybe there are two, three players in the world that can do it. Sascha was going to the net a lot, but I passed him a lot.

“I know how to do passing shots and I will do it more because maybe more guys have come to the net. To beat me just coming to the net is not enough. I will pass. You have to be really good at the net. If guys continue to do it and I really struggle, I'm going to find a way. For the moment, I don't see this.

“Sometimes they succeed, but sometimes they lose also. Carlos against me at the US Open was going to the net I think 50 times and he lost the match. Same with [Christopher] O'Connell [at the US Open].”