World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev admitted the luck was on his side versus Ilya Ivashka and he thought that made a big difference in their ‘s-Hertogenbosch meeting. On Friday, Medvedev saw off Ivashka in the Libema Open quarterfinal 7-6 (8) 6-4.
Medvedev was twice up by a break in the first set but failed to hold on to his serve as the two players were tied at five games apiece after the opening 10 games. Ivashka had a set point on Medvedev’s serve in the 12th game but the Russian to force a tie-break.
In the tie-break, Medvedev saved a set point at 6-7, before realizing his third set point to win a tight opener. In the second set, Medvedev broke Ivashka in the 10th game, when the Belarusian was serving to stay in the match.
Medvedev: Luck was on my side and it made a big difference
“I didn’t do so good in the beginning of the first set, but finally we both managed to find our rhythm, there were great points,” Medvedev said after the match, per the ATP website.
“It was a matter of a few points where sometimes I served well or got a bit lucky at 8-8 [a net cord in the first-set tie-break], and that’s tennis sometimes. So today I was better in the deciding moments and sometimes luck was on my side, and that made a big difference”.
Medvedev is making his fourth Libema Open appearance this week. For the first time in his career, Medvedev has been through to the Libema Open semifinal. In the Libema Open semifinal, Medvedev faces Adrian Mannarino. Interestingly, Medvedev has a negative head-to-head versus Mannarino.
Mannarino has three wins and one loss versus Medvedev. “I don’t have many points to defend on grass and I have some to win, so hopefully I can play well, starting here,” Medvedev said. “Every round is points and the higher you get, the more you need to step up.”
