Medvedev should have beaten Tiafoe with a more comfortable advantage, Chesnokov believes

The victory of Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals of the Masters in Indian Wells over the representative of the United States Francis Tiafoe, despite the controversial episodes, speaks of a good psychological state of the Russian, according to the well-known Soviet and Russian tennis player Andrei Chesnokov.

The match lasted 1 hour 48 minutes and ended in two games – 7:5, 7:6 (7:4).

– Medvedev and Tiafoe have already played before, Medvedev won quite comfortably. As for this match, the first set – the score was 7:5, but, in theory, Daniil should have won with a more comfortable advantage. If we take only the intrigues at the filing of Medvedev, then they did not exist at all. The most difficult thing for him, it seems, was the score of 30:30 in one game, and everything else was easy enough.

Tiafoe, of course, tried to impose his game with sharp, fast shots. Due to them, he beat Cameron Norrie, who simply could not cope with these blows. Many do not keep up with the pace that Tiafoe sets. But Medvedev is in such shape now – he catches up with everything, some impossible balls, makes impossible strokes.

At the same time, Tiafoe’s serve hung 0:40. He behaved this way at that moment, he showed some emotions – this discouraged Medvedev a little. Then, the public supported its own. Against this background, when there were break points, Daniil played poorly – not in one game, in the entire match. Let’s say in the second set 3:1 and 15:40. If he had won this game, Tiafoe’s parade would have ended, because, I think, the score would have been 5:1 further on. And since Medvedev lost this game, the score became 3:2, we had to keep our serve. Then – 4-3. With a score of 5:3, Tiafoe played three match points, the audience was delighted. Medvedev really lost the game at that moment. Then – the next game, another match point, and still Tiafoe made a break.

With the score 5:5, Medvedev returned to the game again, forgot that he had lost three match points and started playing the tennis that he showed earlier when he scored points. The score is 6:5 and 40:0 – how can Medvedev lose his serve with such a score? And he filed and ran to the net – did he do this at least once in the entire match? But suddenly he ran to matchball and lost. Then there was an unforced error, Tiafoe played great on the last match point, and everything went in the opposite direction. The score was 5:1 in the tie-break and suddenly it became 5:4 – I didn’t know if he would win in the end or not. But Daniel made two excellent pitches and won. This suggests that his psychological state is amazing,” Chesnokov told Gazeta.Ru.

In the final, the Russian will play with the Spaniard Carlos Alcaras. The game is scheduled for March 20, starting at 2:00 Moscow time.