Medvedev becomes first player to beat Djokovic in 2023 to reach Dubai final
ATP
Daniil Medvedev became the first player to stop Novak Djokovic in 2023 after he beat him at the Dubai Championships.
In the semi-finals of the 2023 Dubai Championships, the Russian player faced none other than the ATP World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who had been on an impressive 20-match winning streak, including his 22nd Grand Slam title in Melbourne.
On the other hand, Medvedev lost already twice this year, once in Adelaide to Djokovic and then to Sebastian Korda at the Australian Open. But since then, he's been on a 12-match winning streak, winning titles in Rotterdam and Doha.
Both players were dominant on their service games early on, but Medvedev soon increased the intensity to get the first break of the match. Soon after that, he added one more break, leading already 5-2 in the first set and serving for the set.
Yet, Djokovic fought back and got only two points away from leveling the score once again, but thanks to his serving, Medvedev won the first set 6-4 while both players hit 13 winners, including 5 aces, and made only 9 unforced errors combined.
The former world no. 1 started the second set in the best possible way, breaking Djokovic's serve in the first game and confirming his break with a hold in the next one.
In the fifth game of the second set, the match was stopped for a moment as Medvedev was called for a foot fault but disagreed with the decision, which was then overturned by the umpire.
That didn't distract the Russian from eventually winning the match 6-4, 6-4, and setting up a final clash with his good friend Andrey Rublev, who defeated Alexander Zverev in the other semi-final.
On the other hand, Djokovic will be waiting for news from the United States, as he may miss the 2023 BNP Paribas Open and the 2023 Miami Open.
