Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic played one of the best matches of this year in the 2022 Astana Open semifinals but it ended very weirdly.
The Russian and the 21-time Grand Slam champion met 10 times before and the more experienced player won six of those matches. Ahead of their clash in Astana, Daniil Medvedev spoke about how good their rivalry is, but no one expected what will happen after two sets.
"We meet again and I’m really happy. I feel like it’s not a bad rivalry. Of course not close to Novak against Roger or Rafa, but still. I need to be at my best tomorrow,” Medvedev said ahead of his semifinal meeting with Djokovic.
And indeed the 2021 US Open champion was at his best as he proved to be a better player in the first set. He broke his opponent's serve twice, while Djokovic could respond only once and after 40 minutes, he took the first set by winning it 6-4.
In the second set, fans in Astana saw only one break point which the Serbian had in the second game. However, he couldn't use his chance and so it had to be decided in a tie-break.
Both players traded a couple of mini-breaks when the score was tied at 5-5 and the Russian was only two points away from winning the match.
Yet, he lost the tie-break 6-8 and then unexpectedly and surprisingly retired from the match and therefore granted Djokovic spot in the final against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
This retirement shocked everyone as it came out of blue and shocked even the Serbian who looked really surprised.
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