By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Saturday, February 18, 2023
Playing shrewd territorial tennis propelled Daniil Medvedev back to his happy place.
More: Djokovic Seeks Permission to Enter U.S.
A patient Medvedev dispatched Grigor Dimitrov 6-1, 6-2 in today's Rotterdam semifinals to advance to his 28th ATP final—and return to the Top 10 in the process.
"Some amazing rallies. It was 2-2, love-40 for him in the second, so to manage to win it 6-2, just raise my level a little bit on serve and manage to keep consistent… He made a few more errors than he needed to make, and I’m happy with my level.”
The former world No. 1 raised his record to 9-2 supplanting Hubert Hurkacz as new world No. 10 in the live rankings.
Medvedev has been masterful in his last two rounds and will be highly motivated against red-hot Italian Jannik Sinner.
Montpellier champion Sinner scored his eighth straight win, edging Dutch wild card Tallon Griekspoor 7-5, 7-6(5) in a high-quality second semifinal. Sinner did not face a break point and won 32 of 39 first-serve points.
The 2021 US Open champion has won all four meetings with Sinner and if he prevails tomorrow to take his 16th career title, Medvedev will move past Holger Rune for the No. 9 spot in the live rankings.
“It would be amazing,” Medvedev said of his title hopes. “Every time I come here, and I think it is my fifth time here, everywhere there are photos of the winners and their names. ...
"To add my name there would be amazing, but for this I need to play well in the final.”
Sinner owns a 7-1 finals record, while Medvedev is 15-12 in ATP finals.
Photo credit: ABN AMRO Open Facebook