Alex de Minaur’s ATP Finals debut appears to have come to a brutal end with a match still to play after being blown off court by a rejuvenated Daniil Medvedev.
The Russian, who said he was looking forward to the season being over after succumbing to a tantrum during his opening round defeat to Taylor Fritz, brushed aside the Australian No.1 6-2 6-4 in 78 minutes of high-octane tennis.
De Minaur did not play badly, he was simply barely allowed to play at all with Medvedev hitting 24 winners and dropping two points on serve in the second set.
The Sydneysider now needs to beat Fritz heavily in the last round-robin game, and hope Medvedev also loses by a big margin to Jannik Sinner, to have any hope of progressing.
World No.1 Sinner recorded a 6-4 6-4 win over American Fritz in Tuesday’s late clash – a rematch of the US Open final that the Italian also won in straight sets.
Sinner, who beat de Minaur in his opening match at the season-ending event for the top eight players, improved to 23-1 in his last five tournaments.
Sinner is playing at home for the first time since it was announced that he tested positive in two separate drug tests this year.
A decision to clear him of wrongdoing was appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency in September. A final ruling in the case is expected early next year.
Medvedev was beaten by Alexei Popyrin in the Paris Masters last month but in Turin he showed why he is fourth in the world.
De Minaur had won the pair’s only previous match this year, at Roland Garros, but that counted for little when his opponent began as if determined to exorcise the memory of his opening match.
He suffered a meltdown when losing to Fritz, being deducted a point for hurling his racquet and damaging a courtside microphone. This after he had already destroyed one racquet as he railed in frustration.
This was a highly focused Medvedev, and he seized the first set in 40 minutes. De Minaur survived a break point in the first game but was broken in the third and fifth.
De Minaur held to love to start the second set, which went with serve until the ninth game when a superb backhand winner secured Medvedev the break. Serving for the match he made no mistake.
At the end he put his fingers in his ears before writing ‘block the noise’ on a camera lens.
“I went into this match also blocking the noise even from myself,” Medvedev said.
“No like tantrums and stuff … And I really didn’t care what was happening on the court. I just tried to play and it was a good feeling.
“You know, you win everything and everyone thinks you’re a god … Then you lose two matches and everyone is like, ‘Finished, your career is finished.’ So sometimes it’s good just (to) block it.”
Barring an improbable run of results de Minaur’s focus will soon turn to Australia’s Davis Cup challenge in Malaga next week.
He can reflect on a successful 2024 in which he reached the quarter-finals in the last three grand slams, consolidating a Top-10 place, despite the hip injury suffered at Wimbledon that kept him off court until the US Open.
Earlier in the day, Australian pair Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson lost 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 to Harri Helioevaara and Henry Patten in the doubles and are 1-1 after their two matches, still in with a reasonable chance of making the last four.
With the AP.
