Daniil Medvedev will be playing in the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters quarterfinals after beating Alexander Zverev in a late-night thriller.
The two met already for the fourteenth time on the ATP Tour and their meetings in the past were very close. Medvedev led the H2H 7-6 going into the match, but he won six of the last seven matches after Zverev dominated in the first four meetings of their mini-rivalry.
Their third-round meeting at the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters was highly anticipated as they are both players who are among the best for a very long time, and it wasn't a surprise that it was the last match at the Court Rainier III, even after the match of world no. 1 Novak Djokovic.
Medvedev started the match better, breaking his opponent in the third game of the first set, but the German soon responded with a re-break and added one more break to gain an advantage in the opener.
After two holds of serve, Zverev won the first set 6-3, but he couldn't translate it into a good start in the second set. Once more, it was the Russian who broke first, but again, he lost his advantage.
Zverev broke back every time Medvedev gained an advantage and after the Russian hit two consecutive double faults in the ninth game, the German could serve for the match. However, during the changeover a very interesting thing happened.
Frustrated after hitting two consecutive double faults, Medvedev removed a net post, leaving his opponent speechless. Maybe that was the moment that distracted Zverev as his opponent broke back and even added one more break to win the second set 7-5 and force a decider.
The former world no. 1 didn't ride the momentum as he left the court after the second set and left his opponent to eagerly wait for him as Zverev wanted to forget an unfortunate ending of the second set.
He had a chance to do that as he was first to break in the third set, and once again, it was in the ninth game. Zverev was serving for the match once more in the tenth game of the set, but again, Medvedev refused to give up and broke back.
This time, the set but also the match had to be decided in a tie-break after both players looked after their last service games.
Both players had a chance to win the match. Medvedev led 5-2, but Zverev had the first two match points of the match. Eventually, Medvedev saved both and won the match 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(7) after three hours and 7 minutes.
After finishing the match less than an hour before midnight in Monte Carlo, Medvedev will take on fresh and relaxed Holger Rune in the quarterfinals as the young Dane profited from the withdrawal of injured Matteo Berrettini.
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