Daniil Medvedev shocked Novak Djokovic in straight sets to book a place in the last four at the ATP Finals on Wednesday as former champion ...
Daniil Medvedev shocked Novak Djokovic in straight sets to book a place in the last four at the ATP Finals on Wednesday as former champion Alexander Zverev got his campaign up and running.
The Russian fourth seed went toe to toe with the world number one, winning 6-3, 6-3 in an absorbing, energy-sapping contest at London’s empty O2 Arena.
Earlier, German fifth seed Zverev beat Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, bouncing back from defeat to Medvedev in his opening Group Tokyo 1970 match.
Top seed Djokovic is seeking to match the record of six-time winner Roger Federer, who is absent from the season-ending tournament with an injury.
But Medvedev, who won the Paris Masters last week, beat Djokovic at his own game, grinding him down in a near-flawless defensive display.
The giant Russian earned a clutch of early break points and eventually made one count in the seventh game, which lasted 11 gruelling minutes.
The 24-year-old held serve easily in the next game and seized the opening set 6-3 when a rattled Djokovic double-faulted.
An increasingly confident Medvedev broke the 17-time Grand Slam champion again at the start of the second set to win his sixth game in a row in the round-robin match.
Djokovic stopped the rot on his own serve but was able to...
