By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday February 6, 2021
They came, they saw—they conquered.
Russia are the 2021 ATP Cup champions after another breathtaking display of tennis from its top two players. Last year’s semi-finalists hoisted the trophy and sped off into the Melbourne night against an Italian team that never knew what hit them.
It was an important victory for Russia, and one that could help strengthen the self-belief of both players, but there are bigger fish to fry for the engineers of Russia's triumph, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev. The pair are both expected to make deep runs at next week’s Australian Open, and if they do they’ll meet in the quarterfinals in a matchup that would be heavily anticipated.
But on Sunday they worked together to bring Russia to the podium with a confident fury.
Rublev took down Fabio Fognini 6-1 6-2 in a dominant performance. He clinically marched past the talented Italian with a smothering array of torched groundstrokes, and never let him breathe. The 23-year-old has been a rising force on tour for the last 13 months. He is the ATP’s leader in wins and titles since the beginning of 2020. His serve is vastly improved, and like an elite player he knows how to front run.
“I just tried to do my best today, but I was feeling that this one is already next step that I needed to probably be ready again to play with this guy,” Fognini said of the experience of facing the World No.8. “At the moment was too much.”
World No.4 Medvedev was next and he made relatively light work of Matteo Berrettini, the World No.10 that had turned heads with wins over Dominic Thiem, Gael Monfils and Roberto Bautista Agut earlier in the week.
Medvevev has now won 14 consecutive matches, 10 of which have come against the Top 10.
Berrettini was looking like a tour de force through three ties in Melbourne, but he was outed by the superior player on Sunday, 6-4, 6-2. Medvedev was tested more than Rublev was, but he was still able to comfortably defuse the dangerous Italian with his layered variety, his consistency and his ability to attack the lines at crucial junctures.
Medvedev even did a brilliant job of chasing down some excellent drop shots by Berrettini—ones that would have given many players fits.
“I was struggling to win the point, to play my game,” Berrettini said. “He's returning very well. Like I said, he's solid, he's not missing a lot. I couldn't find a way to win the match."
Berrettini was eager to shake it off and turn his thoughts to the Australian Open, where he is considered a player to watch.
"I guess he was better than me," he concluded. "In these days, you just have to say 'bravo' to him and think about the next matches. For sure the next time I'm going to be more ready because I'm going to know him better. He's playing really good. He's in confident, you can tell. He's a really tough player to beat.”
Russia, which lost to Serbia in the semifinals at ATP Cup last year, won’t have much time to celebrate their achievement. Medvedev and Rublev will be in action in less than two days at the Australian Open.
Rublev will open with Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann while Medvedev will clash with Canada’s Vasek Pospisil.