INDIAN WELLS − Reigning US Open champion, Daniil Medvedev, is out of the ATP Indian Wells Masters, falling in stunning fashion in the fourth round to number 23 seed, Grigor Dimitrov, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, yesterday.
Daniil, who won his first Grand Slam title last month at Flushing Meadows, hadn’t lost a set heading into the fourth round, but dropped eight straight games against Grigor en route to a stunning early exit for the top seed.
World number two, Daniil, did not take a break after his emotional US Open victory and said his busy schedule may have finally caught up with him.
“I did feel exhausted in this tournament. Now I can say it. I couldn’t say it before my matches. There are a few physical things that have come up,” said Daniil, who is hoping to eventually overtake Novak Djokovic for number one in the world.
Daniil won the first set, was up 4-1 in the second, and appeared to be cruising to another easy victory when the wheels came off − his unforced errors mounting and service game falling flat.
Daniil had no answers for the way Grigor was playing and predicted the Bulgarian would likely go on to capture the title.
“If he plays like this, like the way he played me from 4-1, then he is going to win the tournament,” Daniil said.
“He played the second half of the match better than anyone did against me at the US Open. It is not like I gave him the match.”
The match turned in the sixth game of the second set as Grigor broke Daniil’s serve for the second time in the set to cut the Russian’s lead to 4-2.
Grigor held serve in the next game and then broke Daniil twice more to take the set and set the tone for a dominating performance in the third.
The Bulgarian closed out the match on the first match point when Daniil blasted a forehand long.
“Been watching quite a bit of his matches,” Grigor said of Daniil. “I really wanted to play this match, to be completely honest. What he has been able to accomplish this past year and a half is pretty amazing. I think it really pushes me also to do better.”
Grigor will face Polish eighth seed, Hubert Hurkacz, who rolled over Russian, Aslan Karatsev, 6-1, 6-3, earlier in yesterday’s quarterfinals.
The 25-year-old Daniil beat Novak in the US Open final last month to prevent the Serb star from becoming the first man − since the legendary Rod Laver in the 1960s − to win all four Grand Slams in the same year.
Daniil managed to break Grigor in the first game of the first two sets but that is small consolation for the loss.
The Russian made six double faults and had his serve broken six times in the two-hour-15-minute match in the main stadium.
Daniil, who has won 50 matches in 2021, described this as a minor setback because this event is not a Grand Slam.
“I don’t see this as the end of the world. I don’t think this would happen in a Grand Slam. There are some small points I could have done better,” he said.
This is just the second time Grigor has beaten Daniil in five career meetings. The last time was a three-set win in their first encounter in 2017 in London. – AFP, October 14, 2021
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