Sports Weekly All-Media Special Correspondent Yi Sang
Medvedev ushered in his first victory of the year-end first, beating Belarusian Ivaszka 7-5, 6-4, taking the first step in defending his Title Paris Masters. But the victory was not simple, because in the first set, Medvedev took a 5-1 lead, and at one point won three sets, and then was chased by the opponent to a 5-5 draw.
However, Medvedev still stabilized, and the first set was won 7-5 with a consecutive break, and the second set did not have too many twists and turns, with the advantage of breaking in the opening stage, he successfully locked in the victory 6-4. "The last time we met, he beat me in the Davis Cup, we've known each other since the hope game, I know he's a great player and it won't be easy to play against him," Medvedev said after winning: "I played at a very high level at the beginning of the game, but I should have done better in the middle of the game, of course the most important thing was to win. ”
As for his overall performance in this game, Medvedev said: "It doesn't matter whether the first round is played well or not, because the person who will win the championship in the end will be the one who can continuously improve his status throughout the event." In the third round, Medvedev's opponent will be the American rookie Korda, who has improved rapidly this season, defeating Karatsev, who just won in Moscow, and former US Open champion Cilic, who won in St. Petersburg last week, which can be said to be quite good. And this will be the first time the two players have met in their careers.
"It's always exciting to play against a player for the first time," Medvedev said of the upcoming match: "We haven't even practiced together, he just had a fantastic win, after all, Marin (Cilic) only won the championship last week, so I'm very much looking forward to playing him tomorrow." If he can beat Koda, Medvedev will face the winner between Alcaraz and Gaston in the quarter-finals, which means that he will face the post-00 players in two consecutive rounds, and as for the semi-finals, he will be waiting for Zverev, Dimitrov or Ruud.
If he can successfully defend his title in this tournament, then Medvedev will continue to maintain the hope of hitting the year-end first place, otherwise, once Djokovic reaches the final in the first half of the zone, then he will lock in the year-end first place in advance, thus surpassing Sampras and ranking first in history with seven year-end firsts. In this year's US Open final, it was Medvedev who ended Djokovic's great history of creating the "Grand Slam of the Year", so in Paris and Turin, can he play the role of a terminator again and cause a "double whammy" to Djokovic?
In fact, in Indian Wells three weeks ago, Medvedev would be the first in the world as long as he won the championship, but he lost to Dimitrov in the fourth round, allowing Djokovic to keep the throne of the ball "luckily", and this time when the opportunity came to him again, could he seize it? In fact, this contest is not only related to the attribution of the year-end first, but also the early start of the psychological war next season.
If Medvedev can complete the counter-over at the last minute, it will cause further blows to Djokovic, who has not yet completely come out of the shadow of the "annual grand slam" dream, and will undoubtedly be quite favorable to his conquest of the Australian Open next year. Moreover, last year at the Paris Masters and the London Finals, Medvedev achieved the feat of winning the championship back-to-back, and with the blessing of the Grand Slam champion this year, his confidence must be more sufficient, and it is not inconceivable to replicate last year's achievements again.
Source: Sports Weekly