By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, August 9, 2019
Daniil Medvedev won 22 of 23 points played on his first serve storming into his eighth semifinal of the season with a 6-3, 6-1 conquest of Dominic Thiem in Montreal.
Photo credit: Christopher Levy
Physical hangover can hamper even the fittest following a run to the final.
A week after runs to finals on different continents, Daniil Medvedev was on fire, while Dominic Thiem was running on fumes.
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The consequences were combustible in Montreal.
Medvedev bombed his sixth ace on match point torching Thiem, 6-3, 6-1, to roll into the Coupe Rogers semifinal.
A dominant Medvedev won 22 of 23 points first-serve points in a 56-minute thrashing.
"Of course I was expecting a tougher match," Medvedev told the media in Montreal afterward. "I was happy that I was able to play so well, to beat him so easily.
"It saved me a lot of energy. It gave me a lot of confidence, so I'm very happy."
A red-hot Medvedev improved to 37-15 on the season, including a 4-1 mark vs. Top 10 opponents since Monte-Carlo in April.
"I tried to play good, I tried to play deep," Medvedev told ESPN's Brad Gilbert afterward. "I knew I had to not give him easy balls to be aggressive."
The eighth-seeded Medvedev moved into his eighth semifinal of the season and second in a row following his burst to the Washington, D.C. final last week where he bowed to Nick Kyrgios in two tie break sets.
Medvedev will meet compatriot Karen Khachanov in tomorrow's all-Russian semifinal.
Khachanov swept a skittish third-seeded Alexander Zverev, 6-3, 6-3. ATP Finals champion Zverev committed eight double faults, barely reaching the net on a couple of second serves, and won just six of 19 second-serve points.
Playing oppressive tennis, Medvedev reeled off eight of the final nine games avenging his 6-4, 6-0 loss to Thiem in the Barcelona final on red clay last April.
Afterward, Thiem said the transition left him physically tapped today.
"I mean, with all the traveling and short transition, two very tough matches yesterday and two days ago, I think the battery was empty today," Thiem told the media in Montreal. "I was not on my 100%. This is just not enough in a quarterfinals of a Masters 1000, especially against a guy like Daniil, who is in a great shape, who is playing amazing tennis.
"I was not able to go the long rallies with him. That's basically the only chance to beat him. It's just a logical score and result what happened today."
Eight seeds contested the Coupe Rogers quarterfinals for the first time since 2009. Medvedev played mistake-free tennis belting deep drives throughout his third meeting with Thiem.
Signs of struggle were evident in the opener as Thiem tripped into a triple-break point hole then slid a slice backhand long to donate the break in the first game.
Breezing through his service games, Medvedev pumped five aces building a 5-3 lead after just 26 minutes of play.
The second-seeded Thiem faced two set points in the ninth game. He saved the first but sprayed a diagonal forehand wide on the second as Medvedev sprinted to a one-set lead.
By then, the lanky Russian has permitted just eight points on first serve through three matches.
Thiem credited the confidence he carried from his run on the red clay to the Kitzbuhel title last week with sparking his breakthrough week in Montreal. Yet the transition to a different time zone and faster surface left Thiem often bending at the waist gulping air while Medvedev suffocated the two-time Roland Garros runner-up.
"There are no injury concerns at all," Thiem said. "I was very flat today, yeah. I came here, I was really down after last week, a lot of emotions and everything. I only had the travel day off. I practiced Monday, Tuesday here. Wednesday, Thursday tough matches.
"It's just logical that I was very, very tired today. I think against maybe other players it would be still a closer match. But as I said before, he's has a great momentum, playing amazing, especially on these hard courts. I didn't have any chance like that."
A dazed Thiem shuffled a second serve into the middle of the net gifting the break at love in the second game of the second set. A finely-tuned Medvedev streaked through eight straight points for a one-set, 3-0 lead.
Forty-six minutes into the match, Thiem missed the mark with a crosscourt forehand giving Medvedev his fourth break and a commanding lead.
The ace sealed Medvedev's 56-minute conquest in style.