Alexander Zverev, who had been 1-8 in his last nine matches against Daniil Medvedev, picked up a much-needed win over his nemesis in the Western & Southern Open third round on Thursday afternoon. Zverev prevailed 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 after two hours and 32 minutes took book his spot in the quarterfinals.
After splitting the first two sets, both players had chances in the third. Medvedev earned two break points at 4-3 to take complete control, but the third-ranked Russian could not convert. In the ensuing game he delivered a wild double-fault down break point at 30-40.
Zverev held easily at 5-4 to clinch victory and set up a meeting with either Mackenzie McDonald or Adrian Mannarino.
“Just the patience that i had probably,” Zverev said when asked about what he was most pleased with. “It was very difficult conditions and he’s a very difficult opponent. He doesn’t give you anything, so you have to win the match yourself.”
The world No. 17 joins Alexei Popyrin in the quarterfinals. Popyrin scraped past Emil Ruusuvuori 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 and awaits either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Hubert Hurkacz.
nice one, Zverev