Daniil Medvedev of Russia is becoming a rising tennis superstar in the making. On Sunday at the Shanghai Masters, Medvedev defeated Germany’s Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-1 in the men’s championship final. With the win, Medvedev won his second ATP Masters 1000 title of 2019, as his first came in Cincinnati this past August 18, as he beat David Goffin of Belgium in the final 7-6, 6-4 at the Western and Southern Open.
In the championship final in Shanghai, Medvedev broke Zverev four times, while Zverev only broke Medvedev once. In an interesting statistic, Medvedev actually had fewer breakpoint opportunities than Zverev as he had five, compared to Zverev’s six, and was a lot more opportunistic when he had the chance to break Zverev’s serve throughout the match.
Medvedev was also very effective with his first serve as he won 85% of his first serve points, while Zverev struggled mightily with his second serve as he only won 29% of his points after he could not get his first serve in the proper rectangle.
This was the first time that Medvedev beat Zverev in his career. It was also the first time that Zverev and Medvedev played in an ATP final. Prior to Sunday, Zverev beat Medvedev 6-3, 7-5 in the second round of the 2016 St. Petersburg event and then beat the 2019 U.S. Open finalist 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of Washington in 2017. Last year, Zverev beat Medvedev in two other Masters 1000 Series events. Zverev was victorious in the second round of Miami with a 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 win and then beat Medvedev 6-3, 6-2 in the third round of the ATP Masters 1000 Series event in Toronto.
There will be one more ATP Masters 1000 Series event in 2019. That will be an indoor event in Paris, France from October 28-November 3.
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