Medvedev again lost to Bautista-Agut. Daniil does not walk on the grass yet

In the quarter-finals of the ATP-500 tournament in Halle, Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev suffered his fifth defeat in seven meetings with Roberto Bautista-Agut. This match was the third on the day’s schedule, where Medvedev was the 2021 US Open champion.

The grass season hasn’t started in the best way for the Russian, who was beaten in the opener at ‘s-Hertogenbosch by French veteran Adrian Mannarino. In Halle, after a solid victory over American qualifier Marcos Giron in the first round, Medvedev struggled in the second round with world No. 65 Laszlo Djere of Serbia, where it took him three sets to win 6-3, 6 -7.6:3. On June 23, Medvedev lost to Bautista-Agut in the quarterfinals of Halle.

Honored coach of Russia Viktor Yanchuk noted that Daniil Medvedev does not show such efficiency on grass as on hard court. This is due to the quick rebound of the ball, which does not allow it to be kept in play for long. However, if the match had been played on a hard court, Yanchuk is sure that Medvedev would have beaten Jere in straight sets, because they did not were not inferior to each other in terms of speed.

Medvedev himself also shared his observations on lawn tennis. He noticed that the rebounds on grass are very different, as well as on clay, and does not understand how players can receive balls close to the baseline. He admitted that it is difficult for him to react to such balls and tries not to stand too close to the baseline. The ATP press service quotes his words.

uncomfortable spanish

Daniil Medvedev faced in the quarterfinals the Spanish tennis player Roberto Bautista-Aguta, who occupies the 23rd place in the ATP ranking. This opponent is one of the most uncomfortable for the Russian. Their personal head-to-head stats showed the Spaniard 4-2, winning the first three matches on hard court, and last summer they traded wins on grass – Medvedev won the Halle quarter-finals, and a week later, Bautista-Agut won the Mallorca quarter-finals. However, in the fall, Daniil beat his uncomfortable quarter-final opponent from Astana with the score 6:1, 6:1.

Medvedev expressed his thoughts before the match in Astana last year, believing that an opponent who has never been in the top five is a good player, but it is possible that he will be awkward for him. The start of the match was even, both opponents exchanged breaks, but Medvedev lost his match, giving his opponent a triple break point, and eventually lost with the score 1:1.

At the start of the match, the opponents did not give each other a chance to serve, but each of them was able to take two games to nil. However, in the 12th game, Medvedev, serving with the score 6: 5 in favor of Bautista-Agut, made a mistake, allowing the opponent to reach the set point, which he immediately converted. In the second set, Bautista-Agut continued to take his serves with confidence, not giving Medvedev a chance for break points, while the Russian had to save himself.

Daniil Medvedev managed to recover four break points in the first three games of his service. In the ninth game, with the score 4:4, he went to his first break point, but could not use it. The set ended in a 6-6 tie-break.

After the opponent’s mini-break, Daniil Medvedev lost 1:3 and received a warning from the referee for touching the grass with a racket. At the end of the match, Roberto Bautista-Agut made a second mini-break and won the match with the score 7:5, 7:6 (7:3). Even 12 aces didn’t help Medvedev, while his opponent didn’t have a single serve from start to finish.

One of the Russian tennis players, Medvedev, who reached the final in Halle a year ago, was beaten for the fifth time in seven matches with Bautista-Agut. Only Andrei Rublev remained in the tournament draw, who beat Tallon Grikspor. Already today, June 24, Rublev will try to stop the overclocked Bautista-Agut.

Anton Mozgovoy, Athletistic