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Dubai Tennis: Medvedev delivers masterclass on the art of returning big serves
The 29-year-old eventually won 6-4 6-4 in one hour and 22 minutes, converting the only two break points he earned in the match
- PUBLISHED: Wed 26 Feb 2025, 10:42 PM
At 21, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard is already delivering headline-grabbing performances. The rising star of French tennis may not have gone past the round of 16 in Grand Slams, but his booming serves continue to send shivers down the spine of many a top player.
On Wednesday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, it was Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion, who found himself facing the scorching serves from the six-foot-eight Perricard, some of which clocked 235 kmph.
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Medvedev stood firm, though, digging deep into his reserves to defy the challenge, returning as well as he has ever done in a career which has taken him to six Grand Slam finals.
The 29-year-old eventually won 6-4 6-4 in one hour and 22 minutes, converting the only two break points he earned in the match.
More importantly, Medvedev was rock solid on his own serve without conceding a single break point to his younger rival.
“It’s not easy to play against such a player. So the most important thing is to be strong on your serve, you make sure you get to the tiebreak, I was very good on my serve today, so that helped,” said Medvedev after reaching the quarterfinals.
“And when you serve well, you can start to put pressure on his serve step by step. In general I am happy with my level, I think I have more opportunities to break, so I am happy that it finally worked out.”
Medvedev then revealed the secret to his return game against Perricard.
“It’s much tougher to return the serve at 230 than 190. But when it’s 190, you have a small time to think ‘what do I do?’ But at 230 you don’t have any time so it’s pure reflexes,” he said.
“And sometimes it makes life even easier as I said you just try to do your best and I did that pretty well today.”
Another player who did remarkably well on Wednesday was veteran Croatian Marin Cilic who overcame Australia’s Alexei Popyrin 5-7 6-3 6-4.
But defending champion Ugo Humbert of France was knocked out by Tallon Griekspoor with the Dutchman winning 4-6 6-3 6-2.
Griekspoor’s reward is a quarterfinal clash with top seed Medvedev.
Meanwhile, Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada beat Portugal’s Nuno Borges 4-6 6-3 7-5 and Lucky Loser Luca Nardi of Italy defeated Zizou Bergs of Belgium 6-4 7-6.
In the quarters, Nardi will face French qualifier Quentin Halys who beat former Dubai champion Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 7-6 6-4.
Then, in what was arguably the match of the day, Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas overcame Karen Khachanov of Russia in a marathon three-setter 7-6 6-2 6-4.
This was the two-time Dubai finalist's 350th win on the ATP Tour.
"It's a good record, which proves that I have been playing good tennis. But I like to wish myself 500 wins (on the ATP Tour), 500 sounds better than 350," he said.
The two-time Grand Slam finalist will now take on Matteo Berrettini of Italy for a place in the semifinals.
Berrettini, the 2021 Wimbledon runner-up, beat Australian qualifier Christopher O'Connell 7-6 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals.
Rituraj Borkakoty is Sports Editor and has spent more than two decades writing on his sporting heroes. He also loves an underdog story, so if you have one, share it with him. He would love to bring it to life.