Recent Tokyo champion Daniil Medvedev delivered another stellar performance in round two of the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday night, but he did not have quite enough to get past Roger Federer. The 37-year-old Swiss held off the 22-year-old Russian 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in one hour and 52 minutes.
“In the third set I really started to figure it out–how aggressive or how tactical I wanted to make the match,” Federer explained. “And by trying everything I found a solution at the end, which was a great feeling to have. So I was very happy.”
The No. 1 seed and defending champion, who struck 10 aces without double-faulting, is joined in the last 16 by Alexander Zverev. Zverev also went up against one of last week’s 500-point champions, beating Beijing winner Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-5, 6-4. The fifth-ranked German finished with 12 aces and no double-faults while moving to within two victories of mathematically clinching a place in the Nitto ATP Finals.
Wednesday highlights:
“I played alright,” Zverev commented. “I played a solid match. I did everything that I needed to win; focused a lot–focused on my game. As you can probably hear in my voice, I’m a little sick right now; feeling a little bit low energy, but I hope it will get better over the next few days.”
The fourth seed will have to get better in a hurry, because difficult opponent Alex de Minaur awaits on Thursday.
“He’s had a fantastic year,” Zverev said of the 19-year-old Australian. “He’s nearly top 30 and obviously playing great tennis, as well. I played him twice this year–once was a very tough match in Davis Cup, which went to a very long five sets, (and) the other one was in the Washington final where I played great. Obviously, it’s not going to be an easy match, especially on this surface. I’m looking forward to it.”
Meanwhile, Juan Martin Del Potro–also under the weather like Zverev–managed to continue his season-long hot streak with a 7-5, 7-6(7) defeat of Richard Gasquet on Wednesday.
“It wasn’t easy to play for me today,” the Argentine assured. “I did what I could; I didn’t run too much. But I think I played with all my strength in the important moments of the match.
“I got lucky that I won, but tomorrow will be a different day. If I have a good night today and I have a good recovery tomorrow morning, maybe I will feel a little bit better for tomorrow night and play better than today. But I’m going like hour by hour and see how I’m feeling.
“I’ve qualified very early for London, which is good for me.”
[polldaddy poll=10132729]
[polldaddy poll=10132731]
nice one, Fed
Nice? He almost lost it!
Danil has played nine matches in slightly less than two weeks (he had to qualify for the Tokyo Open), I’m surprised he still could play so well to push Fed to the limit. I think if he continues to improve, he’s really the real deal along with Tsitsipas and Sasha.
Good win by Tsitsipas and De Minaur too. I really like Tsitsipas among the youngsters, followed by Danil Medvedev. I hope Tsitsipas will reach top ten next year.
Nice win by GOAT…glad he’s back! JDP in 2; Sasha in 2.
Nice win Fed, like all the others he nearly lost.
Esp .enjoyed he was s&ving .37 Yr old against Medvedevs hot streak.