Daniil Medvedev cannot be stopped.
The world No. 7 extended his winning streak to 14 matches and won his third title in a row by beating Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-2 in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday. Medvedev, who was coming off victories in Rotterdam and Doha, cruised to victory in one hour and 12 minutes.
A 2022 slump had the 27-year-old briefly as low as 12th in the rankings, but he will be up to No. 6 on Monday.
“It is amazing because at the start of the year, it was not perfect,” Medvedev admitted. In tennis when you don’t win matches you have doubts. Now it just feels better. I was really happy with these three weeks and I am looking forward to the next ones.”
De Minaur gets it done in Acapulco
The Abierto Mexicano Telcel is often a survival of the fittest, and that was certainly the case this year.
With Tommy Paul having just played the longest match in tournament history (three hours and 25 minutes against Taylor Fritz on Friday night), De Minaur wore down the American in another grueling three-setter on Saturday. The 22nd-ranked Australian recovered from a set deficit to prevail 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 after two hours and 27 minutes.
It is De Minaur’s first title at the ATP 500 level, having previous lifted six 250 trophies. He is now 7-4 lifetime in finals, while Paul is 1-1.
“It feels great; it feels amazing,” the 24-year-old assured.” I know the hard work that’s been put in to be here. It’s good to see the results. It’s not always that you win a tournament and get to finish a week unbeaten. I’ll definitely cherish this going into Indian Wells and Miami.
“Everything in my career has been step by step. I just want to keep pushing–keep getting the most out of myself. I might not play unbelievable tennis every day, but I’m also going to fight until the end.”
“I left my heart on the court every time i played,” Paul told the crowd. “Yesterday was a battle; today was a battle. Demon played an unbelievable match.”
Med on fire
Med and Demon….Congrats!!!