By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday October 27, 2022
Daniil Medvedev is in fighting form once again, and he proved it on Thursday in his victory over Dominic Thiem in Vienna.
Photo Source: Tecnifibre
After an injury scare a little over two weeks ago in Astana, World No.4 Daniil Medvedev is feeling fit and fabulous as he heads down the stretch of the 2022 season.
Medvedev showed his fine form on Thursday in Vienna as he battled past Dominic Thiem in straights sets, in a match whose scoreline does not tell the full story.
“It was a tough match, one hour 40,” Medvedev said after his win. “When it's one hour 40 and you win 6-3, 6-3 that it was a tough match, and could go either way from one side, but in the other perspective, at one moment in the match, I started to put a lot of pressure on his serve. I was serving good myself, so I didn't give him too many opportunities on my serve.
“That was the key today, I think.”
Medvedev worked through a long seventh game in the opening set, finally converting his fourth break point to gain the edge over Thiem at 4-3. From there things got a tad easier, but it was still a struggle to close out the resurgent Austrian.
“That was the first game in the match where I actually won the first point on his serve. Otherwise it was 40-love for him all the time. So a little bit tougher to break. This game I managed to put pressure on him. He had two or three game points where I managed to bring him back to deuce, which is really important.
“When I won this game I got a little bit of momentum during the match.”
“Really happy because I haven't played tennis for a week and a half,” Medvedev said. “I played for the first time at 100 percent on Saturday before the tournament. That's where I didn't feel bad. And I was like, ‘Okay, I'm coming to Vienna, I’ll see how good I can play. It's usually not easy to play after an injury.
“Today I played great, I was moving great. And in some points that I lost. I was catching the balls where if I could catch it, I got it. If I couldn't, it was too good from him, so generally really happy with myself today.”
Medvedev will face Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals after the Italian bowled past Francisco Cerundolo, 7-5, 6-3.
Hubert Hurkacz was also a winner on Thursday, topping Emil Ruusuvuori, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, while Grigor Dimitrov upset No.3-seeded Andrey Rublev, the 2020 champion, 6-3, 6-4, to set a quarterfinal with American Marcos Giron (d. Norrie 6-3, 6-4).
Coric Keeps Tsitsipas Under His Thumb
Borna Coric continues his fine play down the stretch in 2022, and he keeps up his dominance of Stefanos Tsitsipas as well. The Croatian knocked off Tsitsipas 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) for his third consecutive win over the Greek.
Famously, Coric saved six match points against Tsitsipas at the US Open in 2022. He also defeated the Greek in the final at Cincinnati this summer.
“He was playing too fast for me and then in the second set I was a break down I felt I was a little bit unlucky with that game when I lost it,” Coric said. “But then I was just saying to myself ‘I need to fight and I need to keep fighting hard.’
“That’s what I did in the end, that's what I always do to be honest.”
Impressively, Coric has now won six of his last seven matches against the Top-20.
/br> Against Tsitsipas he is now 3-1.
“I just think in every match against him I always play my best tennis,” he said. “He does bring the best out of me – he's he's absolutely unbelievable player.
“I also just like playing against him as well. I think it's a really, really good matchup as well.”