In his first competitive action since the Australian Open, Daniil Medvedev battled back from a set down to defeat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Tuesday night at the ABN AMRO Open. The sixth seed earned a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory, turning the match around by winning nine of 10 games after falling behind 0-1 in the second set.
“I just managed to play a little bit better,” Medvedev said of the turnaround. “I don’t want to say that I played much better, but a little bit better, managed to use the crucial opportunities a little bit better and I feel like he was missing a bit more than in the first set.
“All together, I feel like I changed just a few millimetres of tactics, if we can say like this,” he added, later explaining that he varied his position on return, including moving closer to the baseline on second serves. “All of this happened to work, so I’m really happy about it.”
Medvedev converted on eight of 16 break chances, with Davidovich Fokina breaking six times from 11 opportunities in a topsy-turvy match. Four straight breaks closed the opening set, with Davidovich Fokina claiming his sixth set point in a marathon Medvedev service game to edge in front.
After finding his best tennis in the second set, hitting 14 winners to just three unforced errors, Medvedev stayed steady in the deciding set in the face of his opponent’s aggressive tactics. While Davidovich Fokina earned two breaks with his big ground game, unforced errors prevented him from holding serve in the set as Medvedev locked in on return.
Defence was @DaniilMedwed typically high standard last night – 40% #StealScore (Tour Average 32%)
But it was finding the balance with the attacking side of his game that turned the match around #InAttack #Conversion.#TennisInsights | @atptour | @abnamroopen pic.twitter.com/vwArprY2kU
— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) February 15, 2023
“That’s my game,” Medvedev said of his steady play. “When I miss, that’s not very good. I don’t know what else to say. I’ve had some matches where I struggled when I missed.”
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Medvedev improved to 6-2 on the season, with runs to the Australian Open third round and the Adelaide International 1 semi-finals in his first two events. He will next face Botic van de Zandschulp or Quentin Halys, with third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime a potential quarter-final opponent.