After beating him recently in the China Open final, Jannik Sinner bested Daniil Medvedev in the 2023 Vienna Open final.
Medvedev won the ATP 500 event in the Austrian capital last year and played really solid tennis to book yet another final. Sinner, who has played on a really high level for a while now, produced an equally impressive level to secure the second spot in the final.
It promised to be a really good match, especially due to the recent history, and it certainly delivered. The opening set went to a tiebreak, which wasn't shocking, and it saw Sinner win it 9-7.
We saw a lot of battling even before the tiebreak, as both broke each other at least once. Medvedev broke first but allowed Sinner to battle back, and that's what happened in the tiebreak as well.
Medvedev was up 4-1, but Sinner battled back and took it thanks to outhitting the Russian. The second set was a brilliant response from Medvedev, who was serving much better this time around and attacked way more.
He took a 5-2 lead but fumbled one of those breaks to give Sinner a chance to battle back. It didn't happen, as the Russian sent the match into a decider. It was a brilliant decider to watch and a brutal one to play for the players.
At 40 minutes of play in the final set, the score was 2-1 for Sinner, with a game ongoing. It was the longest one in the match, one where Sinner wasted 8 break points until he finally broke, taking a 3-1 lead.
It seemed like the pivotal one, but it wasn't, as Medvedev broke back immediately after that. Sinner then broke again and held for the 5-2 lead, concluding the craziest sequence of the match.
Both players were visibly tired as mistakes piled up on both sides. Sinner's shot-making proved crucial, though, as he finished the match with 34 winners. The final score was 7-6(7) 4-6 6-3 after over 3 hours of battling.
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