2 things that stood out in Daniil Medvedev's 2R win over Grigor Dimitrov at Vienna Open
Top seed and defending champion Daniil Medvedev of Russia beat Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the second round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna on Thursday, October 26. It was an entertaining match that saw the 27-year-old Russian overcome an indifferent start to finish as the winner.
Medvedev will face his compatriot and eighth seed Karen Khachanov in the quarter-final on Friday. Khachanov is a solid player, but Medvedev will undoubtedly be the favourite in the match.
On that note, let us take a look at two things that stood out in the match:
#1. Medvedev moved Dimitrov from side to side in the first set, but the latter played some stupendous shots:
Medvedev made Dimitrov from side to side by playing his shots to the open court repeatedly in the first set. However, to his credit, the 32-year-old Bulgarian played some wonderful down-the-line winners off either wing to take his opponent by surprise.
Dimitrov broke Medvedev early in the set to take a 4-2 lead and then broke him once again in the ninth game of the set to win it 6-3. At that point, the Bulgarian looked in a very good position and the momentum seemed to be firmly with him.
#2. Medvedev’s down-the-line backhand proved to be a lethal weapon:
Medvedev changed his tactic from the second set onwards and kept engaging Dimitrov in crosscourt backhand exchanges more frequently. As a result, the Bulgarian had to resort to playing his crosscourt backhand slice frequently.
It gave the Russian a chance to dictate terms with his down-the-line forehand to the open court. In addition to that, Medvedev also kept defending really well along the baseline - as he almost always does.
The big Russian broke Dimitrov twice in the second set to register an almost flawless performance. He then got the decisive break of serve by winning the ninth game of the third set to love. Medvedev then had no problem serving the match out in the subsequent game.
Dimitrov’s first serve percentage dropped as the match progressed and that led to his downfall. The Bulgarian was able to win only 40% of the points on his second serve in the match, while Medvedev managed 52% on his.
That proved to be a big enough difference in the end despite Dimitrov faring better on his first serve. Medvedev deservedly won on the day to stay in course for his sixth title of the year.