Daniil Medvedev once again faced some issues at the 2023 Vienna Open, but once again, the Russian overcame them with a three-set win over Karen Khachanov.
This time, the opponent was Karen Khachanov, a player Medvedev knows very well as they're both Russian and good friends. They played a couple of times so far, with the former ATP's world no. 1 winning most of those, and that's what happened today as well.
Like Grigor Dimitrov yesterday, Khachanov gave Medvedev some problems as he actually won a set. It was a bit surprising because the Russian looked so much in control in the opening set. The score was 6-3 as Medvedev overcame a pretty poor serving performance to outplay Khachanov in the rallies.
That was the key. Khachanov served far better than Medvedev, but in the actual rallies, he couldn't do enough. He did much better in the second set, where he actually served worse than Medvedev, but was pretty spectacular in the rallies.
For more winners, fewer mistakes by Khachanov, and better play in the crucial rallies. Medvedev wasn't bad, but he didn't see a single break point while allowing one to Khachanov. That one was converted, and that was enough for him to lose the set.
The final one saw Medvedev flip the momentum early by breaking Khachanov and jumping out to a 3-0 lead. Both were pretty good, but Medvede was slightly better.
Khachanov's chance came in the final game of the match when he had a pretty solid chance to go up 40-15 on the serve of Medvedev, but he slammed a forehand into the net.
The Russian won the next two points easily to seal the win. The final score was 6-3 3-6 6-3 as he moves on to the semi-final where he'll face either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Borna Gojo. Either matchup would be tricky but he's playing well, so we'll see.
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