Daniił Miedwiediew

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[Damian]

Roman Safiullin stepped up and delivered for Russia Sunday at ATP Cup to help guide the reigning champion to victory against France in Group B in Sydney.

The World No. 167 backed up his singles victory over Arthur Rinderknech by teaming with World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev to overcome Fabrice Martin and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 6-4 in 76 minutes in the deciding doubles match to give Russia a winning start at the 16-team event.

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[Damian]

[Damian]

Medvedev Says ATP Cup Victory Among Most Emotional Of Career

Spoiler:

Russia defeats France 2-1 in Sydney
Daniil Medvedev described Russia’s 2-1 victory against France on Sunday at ATP Cup as one of the most emotional days of his career as he partnered Roman Safiullin to ensure the reigning champion made a winning start in Sydney.

The World No. 2 watched Safiullin battle back to defeat Arthur Rinderknech, before the 25-year-old teamed with the World No. 167 to win the decisive doubles match, after Medvedev had lost to Ugo Humbert in a third-set tie-break in his singles rubber.

“I definitely had some emotional moments in my career, but this one would be in the top three, top five, because just look at Roman's match,” Medvedev said in Russia’s post-match press conference. “The way he fought back after [a] tough first set where we can say he lost it quite easily, and then the way he fought back, the way he played was unreal.

“Today was really emotional. In the doubles match I had a partner close to me and [it] is different when you have somebody by your side. The emotions I felt during the match already in the doubles when we broke in the second set was unbelievable, and I think I could hold them, but I didn't want to.”

Following the withdrawals of Andrey Rublev and Aslan Karatsev, Safiullin gained his opportunity for Team Russia and he capitalised on it, earning Russia two points in their opening Group B tie on his debut at the 16-team event.

“It was [a] great day for me,” Safiullin said. “I just won one point. The second point I share with Daniil because we both won, of course. It's not like I brought two points and Daniil was sitting, like, ‘Come on, Roman’."

Russia next plays Australia on Qudos Bank Arena on Tuesday.

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Medvedev, Safiullin Combine For Russia's Second Win

Spoiler:

Daniil Medvedev and Roman Safiullin, Russia’s latest “secret weapon”, ensured that the defending champion beat Australia on Tuesday to move to 2-0 in Group B play at the ATP Cup.

Medvedev silenced the majority of supporters on the Qudos Bank Arena with his fourth straight victory over Alex De Minaur in a 6-4, 6-2 win over 80 minutes. It followed on from World No. 167 Safiullin’s gutsy 7-6(6), 6-4 victory over James Duckworth in the No. 2 singles match.

“We fight when we play for our country, to the last point,” said World No. 2 Medvedev. “I didn’t feel great prior to the match, so I took some pain killers before I came out. I’m really happy for Roman, he’s winning every match he’s played so far. I watched his match tonight from the locker room. I’ve known him since he was 10, he had a good junior career and has been unlucky with injuries.”

Russia now plays Italy on Thursday in a repeat of the 2021 ATP Cup final, while host nation Australia challenges France.

For Medvedev, it was a case of see ball, hit ball in the first three games against de Minaur and it wasn’t until 3-0, 30/15 that the Russian made his first error. The first set then became tactical for De Minaur, with ferocious hitting and intricate slice play aplenty. The Australian did well to recover from 15/40 at 3-5, but Medvedev gave no let-up on first serve and closed out the 41-minute opener with an ace down the T.

Leading 5-4 in the first set, Medvedev put his foot down and won the next six games, continually pushing De Minaur to find the lines from the baseline or move swiftly up the court for low balls. At the changeovers in the Team Zone, De Minaur and former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt debated tactics. The 22-year-old fought hard as always, but Medvedev was simply too good on Tuesday night.

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Medvedev Sends Russia-Italy Tie To Deciding Doubles

Spoiler:

But Medvedev then repelled a spirited comeback from Berrettini 6-2 6-7(5) 6-4 in the No. 1 singles to level the tie at 1-1.

"The first set I was in control and it's tricky because you think that things will continue to go your way but that's not the case when you're up against a Top 10 player," Medvedev said. "I made some bad decisions in the second set so I tried to learn from that in the third. I served well throughout the match and that helped me."

Taking up his customary position near the back wall to return serve, Medvedev negated Berrettini’s biggest weapon, breaking twice in the first set and limiting the Italian to winning just 59 per cent of first-serve points. It was a very different look on serve for Berrettini, who against Alex de Minaur was serving with the Australian standing with his toes on the baseline.


Medvedev, who led the Tour with 63 match wins last year, dropped just six games when he beat Berrettini in last year’s ATP Cup final in Melbourne. But Berrettini would not go away easily today, flipping the script in the second set when he put 80 per cent of first serves into play (including 13 in a row).

The World No. 7 won 27 of 28 first-serve points in the second set to deny Medvedev a chance to work his way into service games. The decisive moment in the tie-break came on Medvedev’s serve at 5/6, when the Russian chose to follow a neutral ball into the net behind a backhand slice. He popped up a backhand volley, which Berrettini stepped inside to deliver a clean winner to the backhand court.

Would Medvedev change up his return position in the third set to give Berrettini a different look on serve? No sir! The man dubbed ‘Deep Court Daniil’ stuck to his plan on return and broke in the third game. He then went into lockdown mode off the ground, making few unforced errors as he carved out an entertaining victory to take his ATP Cup singles record to 10-2 during the three years of the event.

Earlier in the No. 2 singles, Sinner fought off three set points in the first set and five break points against the World No. 167 in his first three service games of the second set before the World No. 10’s edge in big-match experience – and ability to save 10 of the 11 break points he faced in the match – carried him to a victory.

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[Damian]

[Damian]

Russia Secures SF Berth

Spoiler:

Russia defeats Italy 2-1
With a place in the semi-finals on the line Thursday at ATP Cup, Daniil Medvedev and Roman Safiullin stepped up, overcoming Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner 7-5, 4-6, 10-5 to fire Russia to a 2-1 victory over Italy in Group B in Sydney.

The reigning champion will play the winner of Group C in the semi-finals on Saturday.

After the singles rubbers were split, all four players who competed in the first two matches of the tie returned to the doubles court for the decider on Ken Rosewall Arena.

In a tight match between last year’s finalists, Medvedev and Safiullin broke twice and won 89 per cent (33/37) of their first-serve points to triumph after one hour and 45 minutes.

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