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.