By Tony Fairbairn
- Daniil Medvedev [3] v Stefanos Tsitsipas [5]
- Casper Ruud [4] v Holger Rune [7]
ROME, ITALY – Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas will renew their fierce rivalry when they meet for a place in the Rome final.
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Daniil Medvedev [3] v Stefanos Tsitsipas [5] | H2H: Medvedev leads 7-4
Daniil Medvedev has translated his confident hard court form onto clay and is now into the Rome semi-finals after a dominant display over Yannick Hanfmann. Medvedev is now looking to continue his fine form on clay as he seeks a first ever clay court title in the Italian capital as he looks to establish himself as a Roland Garros contender. Standing in Medvedev’s way is fierce rival Stefanos Tsitsipas who has rejuvenated his form this week and is now one win away from reaching the final in Rome for a second consecutive year.
H2H & Match Fundamentals
| Daniil Medvedev [3] v Stefanos Tsitsipas [5] | H2H: Medvedev leads 7-4 |
| Rome 2023 | Rome, Italy |
| Clay (O) | Prize Money: €308,790 |
| Second on Centre Court, not before 2:30pm (1:30pm BST) | Amazon Prime Video <– Sign up for trial |
Medvedev has been on a ruthless winning streak since the Australian Open and has now translated that confident form onto clay courts. Now Medvedev looks to continue to wear out his opponents and continue his run in Rome as he searches for a first clay court title of his career.
Next for Medvedev is his fierce rival Tsitsipas who has regained his clay court form and built momentum towards Roland Garros. Tsitsipas is looking to win a clay court title on the road to Roland Garros and a win against Medvedev will see him into a second consecutive Rome final.
After his quarter-final victory Medvedev confirmed that he is feeling great on the court and his aggressive style of play is paying off.
“I said before the tournament I was feeling really great in practice,” Medvedev told the ATP website.
“It is always a danger to say this if you lose the first round and you think, ‘Why did I say this’. But I am feeling great. The transition from Grand Stand to center court was not easy. He was struggling more than me and I am happy with the win and being in the semis.
“I knew I had to put as many balls into the court as possible because he plays aggressively. There aren’t going to be many points where you dictate, it will be mainly him. But what you have to do is play deep and try and make him miss.
“Maybe he didn’t play his best match but that is how it works, you can’t play your best match every day and I am happy I could neutralise his attacking style.”
As for Tsitsipas he previewed his match against Medvedev and also spoke about how he managed to defeat Borna Coric in the semi-finals.
“He’s been playing well and I’m playing [well] also,” Tsitsipas told the ATP website.
“I feel good on court, regardless if it’s a night session or a day session and I really hope to bring the best out of me against him. I feel like he’s playing better than the years before.
“This is clay-court tennis, things escalated quite quickly. And there was a turning point, but accompanied by my great shotmaking, at the very important moments, I was able to retrieve that and get back and hold.
“[I played] a great service game in the very last game, serving excellently and just feeling the energy point by point.”
Medvedev will look to continue to use depth and accuracy on serve to suffocate Tsitsipas’ attacking options as well as taking away the Greek’s ability to change the tempo of the rallies. Meanwhile Tsitsipas will look to be intelligent with his returning and use his slice to force the shorter balls from Medvedev.
This will be a tight match with both players knowing each other’s games very well but Tsitsipas’ clay court intelligence should see him over the line against a confident Medvedev.
Prediction: Tsitsipas in three sets.
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Casper Ruud [4] v Holger Rune [7] | H2H: Ruud leads 4-0
Casper Ruud is into his second semi-final of the season after finding his confidence in Rome, only dropping one set this week. Ruud desperately needed some form of momentum heading into Roland Garros where he reached the final last year and is now looking for his first Masters 1000 title of his career. Next for Ruud is Holger Rune who continued his solid clay court season with a three set victory over world number one Novak Djokovic as he looks for his second Masters 1000 final of his clay court season.
H2H & Match Fundamentals
| Casper Ruud [4] v Holger Rune [7] | H2H: Ruud leads 4-0 |
| Rome 2023 | Rome, Italy |
| Clay (O) | Prize Money: €308,790 |
| First on Centre Court at 1pm (12pm BST) | Amazon Prime Video <– Sign up for trial |
Ruud was void of all confidence heading into Rome but the Norwegian has now found his form in the Italian capital heading into Roland Garros. Now Ruud is looking to win his maiden Masters 1000 title and establish himself as a front-runner to win the title in Paris.
Standing Ruud’s way is Rune who has continued his solid clay court season by reaching the last four in Rome in confident fashion. Rune has the swagger and the talent to believe that he can win a Grand Slam in a couple of weeks time and will look to prepare for Paris by reaching his second Masters 1000 final of this clay court season.
After his win over Francisco Cerundolo, Ruud confirmed that his confidence is back and is looking forward to the semi-finals.
“I’m just very happy to play good tennis and be in the semi-finals,” Ruud told the ATP website.
“It’s going to be a very, very fun one, hopefully. Tennis is a strange sport, as we all can tell. And I think I’ve really lived through it the last 12 months or so, some of my best moments of my career and some tougher losses in the past couple of months.
“But here we are back in Rome and I feel great. I know that I’ve had success in Italy before in my career, here [I made] two times [the] semi-finals, Turin last year was amazing for me… It’s something in the food maybe, I don’t know.”
As for Rune, the Dane spoke about how significant the win was against Djokovic and had big praise for the legendary Serb.
“It’s really a big win for me,” Rune said to the ATP website.
“Obviously I did it last year in Paris as well, but every match is a huge challenge for me when I play against Novak. He’s one of the greatest that’s ever played the game. I knew I had to be at my best and I said it yesterday, and I was today. I’m super proud of myself and I enjoyed every moment out there.
“I stay humble of course. I have a lot to achieve. I think you should always be humble. I think I am, I hope so and I hope people see me this way. I’m a huge fighter on the court and I leave everything when I play my matches.
“I’m super proud I was able to get the victory today. I had to fight hard and play my best tennis. Huge credit to Novak, I’m a big fan of his. He’s a huge inspiration and I wish him all the best.”
Ruud will look to return accurately and use his consistent baseline game to force the errors from Rune. Meanwhile Rune will look to serve well and use the power from his forehand to create the space on the court.
This will be a good match between two players who are feeling confident at the moment but this is a bad match-up for Rune and Ruud’s consistency as well as decision-making should be too much for the Dane.
Prediction: Ruud in three sets.
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