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Russian tennis chief: Medvedev was more sophisticated outplaying Rublev at 2020 US Open

It took Medvedev 2 hours and 27 minutes to defeat Rublev with the final score of 7-6 (8-6); 6-3; 7-6 (7-5)
Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev AP Photo/Seth Wenig
Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev
© AP Photo/Seth Wenig

MOSCOW, September 10. /TASS, Andrey Kartashov/. Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev displayed more sophisticated skills in comparison with his compatriot Andrey Rublev in their quarterfinals clash of the 2020 US Open in New York, Shamil Tarpishchev, the president of the Russian Tennis Federation (RTF), told TASS on Thursday.

Medvedev and Rublev faced off each other late on Wednesday night in a match for the spot in the semifinals round of the prestigious Grand Slam tournament in the United States. It took Medvedev 2 hours and 27 minutes to defeat Rublev with the final score of 7-6 (8-6); 6-3; 7-6 (7-5).

"First of all, I want to point out how much Rublev improved in his play and it makes me happy," Tarpishchev said in an interview with TASS. "On the whole, the play could have assumed a different scenario if he [Rublev] won the opening set, but he failed on the serve during the tie-break."

"I should say that Rublev worked very well after he had recovered from his previous injury and gained enormously," the RTF president continued. "He is now good with the first serve, the range, and we can see a good work of his coach."

"Meanwhile, Daniil is still on the track and was more sophisticated in his technique and tactics displaying more play options," Tarpishchev stated.

The Russian player, who is currently 5th in the ATP Rankings, hit the international media headlines last summer with his maiden Grand Slam final appearance at the US Open, losing a dramatic five-set thriller to Spain’s Rafael Nadal.

Medvedev, 24, is now set to face in the semifinals World’s No. 3 Dominic Thiem of Austria. The 27-year-old Austrian roamed into the semifinals with a confident straight sets win of 6-1; 6-2; 6-4 over Australia’s Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals.

Tarpishchev also told TASS it was impossible to predict the winner of the semifinals match between Medvedev and Thiem.

"This match will be a very long one and extremely painful, and the winner of that clash will be later faced with a task of a prompt recovery before the final," the RTF president added.

In the other semifinals match, Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta is taking on World’s No. 7 Alexander Zverev of Germany.

The 2020 US Open kicked off on August 31 in New York and the prestigious Grand Slam tournament offers $53.4 million in prize money up for grabs. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in June that the Grand Slam tournament in the United States, the 2020 US Open, would be hosted by New York in line with the initial schedule, namely between August 31 and September 13, but without spectators in attendance due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

A number of international tennis players decided earlier against going to New York for the 2020 US Open amid the ongoing global spread of the novel coronavirus and among them were World’s No. 1 female tennis player Ashleigh Barty of Australia, World’s No. 2 male tennis player Rafael Nadal of Spain, Dutch player Kiki Bertens (currently ranked 7th by the WTA), Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina (ranked 5th by the WTA), Swiss tennis star Stan Wawrinka (currently ranked 17th by the ATP), Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Svetlana Kuznetsova, as well as Romania’s Simona Halep.

The United States is currently the leading country in terms of confirmed novel coronavirus cases, which exceed 6,549,770. The COVID-19 death toll in the country is over 195,240. Yet, more than 3,846,650 patients have been reported to recover from the virus.