Last year’s runner up Stefanos Tsitsipas has a golden chance to go one better with the Greek being one of four men left at the semi finals stage. He should fancy his chances against either of Casper Ruud and Holger Rune in the final but first must beat Daniil Medvedev on Saturday afternoon. What was once a very ugly head to head for Tsitsipas looks a bit more respectable now with the Greek winning three of the last four to move it to 4-7.
Medvedev’s spot here has came as a bit of a surprise with his distaste for clay well known. The Russian has managed to make his way through a fairly weak route to the final four with only Alexander Zverev looking a tough matchup on paper. It was very easy in his quarter final match against Yannick Hanfmann with him getting six breaks in the 6-2 6-2 win over the German. “There aren’t going to be many points where you dictate, it will be mainly him. But what you have to do is play deep and try and make him miss. Maybe he didn’t play his best match but that is how it works, you can’t play your best match every day and I am happy I could neutralise his attacking style.” he said after.
Tsitsipas has looked impressive this week and is yet to drop a set through his four matches. The latest win came against Borna Coric, extending his 2023 clay record to 13-3. After initial struggles for form and fitness following the Australian Open, the Greek definitely looks to be coming back to his best. “This is clay-court tennis, things escalated quite quickly. And there was a turning point, but accompanied by my great shotmaking, at the very important moments, I was able to retrieve that and get back and hold,” Tsitsipas said after the 6-3 6-4 win. “[I played] a great service game in the very last game, serving excellently and just feeling the energy point by point.”
Medvedev has done well to make it to this stage but is likely to be outclassed on this surface by any top player who is also competent on the surface. Tsitsipas is no longer fazed by this matchup and may infact be the dominant player within it now so another win could further establish that. With seven double faults in his last match, Medvedev will be more vulnerable on serve and against an opponent like Tsitsipas there will be less room for error. The Russian will want to dictate from the baseline but is likely going to struggle against an opponent who can expose his movement and deep court position.
Prediction – Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets