Russian fans dreamed of a Russian final taking place at the Masters in Madrid. After Rublev sensationally passed Alcaraz, it seemed that the matter was small.

In the confrontation between Daniil Medvedev and Jiri Legechka, all the trump cards were in the hands of our player, but trouble came from unexpected places.

Danya was forced to give up the fight after the first set, making all the fans worry.

Rare meeting

The week in the capital of Spain was promising for our guys: three reached the 1/8 finals and even despite Khachanov’s defeat from Sinner, Rublev’s success covered everything. After Andrey’s victory over Alcaraz, the Russian final no longer seemed something fantastic.

Of the top 4 in the ATP rankings, only Medvedev remained in the game, and the match against the Czech Legecka could well have become a passing stage. Although Jiri managed to beat Nadal with the full support of the Spanish fans, this should not have been misleading – Rafa’s form is far from ideal.

Rafael Nadal and Jiri Legechka / Photo: © Clive Brunskill / Staf / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

There was too little data to make predictions for the upcoming quarterfinals, since Medvedev met his 22-year-old opponent only once and on the grass at Wimbledon. Last summer, Danya defeated Legechka on refusal with a score of 6:4, 6:2. As it turned out, there was a certain symbolism in this.

Long break

Our compatriot is traditionally unpredictable on clay – not the best surface for Medvedev. But in the Spanish capital Danya is doing very well, showing better performance with each match.

The fourth racket of the world started the meeting with Legechka, as well as the previous game against Bublik, confidently. However, a good game on his serve was followed by a couple of games when Danya could not catch even one play on the return. At the same time, Medvedev periodically worried about his leg, touching his thigh and groin area.

Having taken the fifth game, the Russian asked for a medical break, but did not remain on the bench, but went under the stands. Legechka was forced to wait so long that, to maintain his tone, he began to run circles on his half of the court

Daniil Medvedev / Photo: © Julian Finney / Staf / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Expected outcome

It took Dana more than 10 minutes, after which he lightly jogged back to the audience, grabbed his racket and went to the reception. Feel better. He hardly made any accelerations anymore, tried to minimize movements and generally worked in energy-saving mode.

During the next break, the physiotherapist worked with Medvedev again, only now on the court. In a dialogue with the doctor, our player admitted that, despite the improvement, he was scared of his condition.

The main question now was simple – either the Russian would run away, or everything would be over. The key episode occurred in the ninth game, when Medvedev fought off two break points from his opponent, but still gave up serve.

Daniil Medvedev and Jiri Legechka / Photo: © Clive Brunskill / Staf / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Legechka calmly realized the opportunity to close the set, which gave Dana the impetus to make a decision. The Russian demonstratively made a short jerk, grabbed his thigh again and headed towards the Czech to give up the fight.

The quarterfinals turned out to be completely different from what we expected, but that doesn’t matter now. The main thing is that Medvedev can recover to compete at Roland Garros. Perhaps it was the thoughts of the upcoming Grand Slam tournament that stopped Danya in this game.