2023-05-20 21:28:09
In the final, Medvedev will meet Danish teenager Holger Rohne, who defeated Norwegian Casper Rudd 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-2.
Medvedev achieved a big surprise, as he was not expected to reach the final in the Italian capital, as he had not previously succeeded in winning any match.
The Russian is seeking to win his 20th title in his career and the first on clay courts, following 18 titles on hard courts and a title on grass courts.
Medvedev (24 years) controlled the match better than the 24-year-old Greek, who was also the runner-up of last year’s edition, following returning to complete the match that stopped for more than 4 hours when the tie prevailed 4-4 in the first set.
Upon his return, Tsitsipas failed to maintain his serve, and the score was 5-5, following losing 5 consecutive points, so he gave preference to the Russian, who settled the group in his favor.
The second set did not deviate from the first, as Medvedev broke his opponent’s serve in the beginning, but the Greek pushed the Russian for a mistake and lost his serve, so he equalized 3-3.
But once once more, he was unable to impose his word, and the score was tied 5-5, as he committed 3 errors on his serve, which gave preference once more to Medvedev, who ended the group in his favor, and thus the match that lasted more than 6 hours, but with actual play for an hour and 47 minutes.
Medvedev allowed himself to dance following the win, saying, “I was just happy to reach the final of the 1,000 Masters on clay for the first time, and I can’t wait for the final.”
“I enjoyed playing today, even though it was very difficult, with the rain and the delays… Sometimes it can get on your nerves, but today I had a lot of fun…”.
It is Medvedev’s eighth victory over Tsitsipas in 12 matches that have brought them together so far.
Ronh turns the tables on Rod and reaches the final
The Danish Ronh, ranked seventh, reached the final with a difficult and exciting “Scandinavian” victory on Saturday over the fourth-ranked Norwegian Road, in his first victory in five matches.
Eight days before the French Roland Garros tournament, the second of the four major tournaments, the 20-year-old Ron, who eliminated Serbian Novak Djokovic from the quarter-finals, confirms his upward season.
He will play in Rome his third final in four clay courses, following Monte Carlo, where he lost to Russia’s Andrei Rublev, and Munich (250), when he beat Dutchman Butik van de Zangogob, winning his fourth title.
Ronne, who was participating for the first time in the Rome tournament, was trailing by a set and breaking serve 2-4, when he made a strong comeback that gave him his twenty-seventh victory this season, in a match that lasted two hours and 41 minutes.
“I had nothing to lose in the second set, so I told myself to play comfortably,” the young player said following his victory. “I wanted to enjoy it as if it was my last set here. I asked myself to play aggressively and have fun, and that was the key to come back.”
Rona’s tally this season on clay has become 13 wins once morest only two losses.
If he wins the title on Sunday, Ron will move up to fifth in the world rankings.
And the Dane continued, “I really played the best tennis in the last two matches once morest Novak and then Casper. Two players are difficult to confront, so I had to raise the level, and this is what I did not succeed in achieving today except at the end of the match when I turned things around.”
Ron won his first title in the Masters 1000 tournament last year in Paris.
This is the first match between two Scandinavian players in the semi-finals of the Masters 1000 tournament, since Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman beat compatriot Thomas Enqvist in Paris in 1997.
On the other hand, Ruud (24 years old), who was searching for his first title in the Masters tournaments, was in the semi-finals for the third time in a row in Rome.
He knew a regular season, as he was crowned in Estoril, but he struggled in the Masters tournaments, failing to pass the third round in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Madrid.
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