Daniil Medvedev continued his bid for back-to-back ATP titles as he battled to a deciding set win over Australian Chris O’Connell at the Qatar Open quarter-finals.
The Russian is looking to add the title in Doha to the one he took home at the Rotterdam Open last week but was given an uncomfortable evening by Aussie World No.94 O’Connell as he fought his way to a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 win in just under two hours. The World No.8 will now face either Felix Auger-Aliassime or Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the semi-finals.
It was the perfect start for Medvedev as he powered his way to an early break with his usual swashbuckling baseline tennis. O’Connell had disposed of last year’s winner Roberto Bautista-Agut in the previous round but Medvedev made that seem like a distant memory as broke again to lead 4-0. O’Connell – sporting Australian gold colours on his shirt – did make a mark on the scoreboard when holding in his next two service games but Medvedev secured the first set with a routine hold to take it 6-2.
If he couldn’t miss a shot in the first set it was the polar opposite at the start of the second as the number three seed seemed distracted by his team box as he was stunned by O’Connell who broke for a 3-0 lead. O’Connell had fought back from a set down in the Bautista-Agut win and would have had the belief he could do so again as Medvedev let off some steam at the change of ends.
The rant did nothing to improve Medvedev’s fortunes as the impressive O’Connell continued to plug away. The Australian had clearly changed things up, bringing his opponent to the net and varying the pace on his shots. And that play helped him carve out his opportunity as he served for the second set at 5-3. But in a big game, with a little more pressure, standard shots before become a little more difficult and some wayward swings of the racket handed Medvedev a break back to save the set. However, O’Connell has a grit about him and he nicked the second set after he again stunned the Russian with a delicate drop-shot to break and take it 6-4.
It was a tense, cagey final set and both players shared the first ten games equally as they dominated on serve. An O'Connell win would have been the biggest of the 28-year-old right-handers career and one that wouldn't have been believable after the first 20 minutes of the match. But Medvedev has won a Grand Slam and his experience on the big points shone through as he broke O'Connell after the Aussie netted a volley to lead 6-5.
And he duly served it out to break O'Connell's heart and make his way into the last four.
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