: For Daniil Medvedev, 2016 was a year of firsts. The 20-year-old Russian made his ATP Tour debut at Nice, got a taste of Grand Slam qualifying at Wimbledon and reached an ATP 250 quarterfinal in Moscow.
Through the last two years, he has improved his ranking by more than 500 places, all the way up to his current position of 99.
On Saturday, at the Aircel Chennai Open, he reached his first-ever Tour final, beating Dudi Sela 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 at the Aircel Chennai Open.
“No matter what I do, how many ever titles I win in the future, I’ll never forget this place,” he said after the win.
In the final, he meets second seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who, after a harrowing examination of his title credentials against Mikhail Youzhny in the previous round, came through unscathed against Benoit Paire, winning 6-3, 6-3.
Medvedev’s victory, though, did not come easy. In Sela, he had an opponent who was on a mission himself. In his 15-year career, Sela has reached a Tour final only twice before. And when he held a match-point on his serve at 5-4 in the second set, he came within striking distance of another shot at salvation — that of getting into another final, and, may be, going on to win a title.
That Medvedev did not crack is an indication of what he is made of. In fact, it was a quality which he showed all through.
Serving at 2-2 in the first set, he was down 0-40 but managed to wriggle out of that hole, hitting four winners, no less.
Pinned to any corner of the court, he always seemed to have a point-ending shot up his sleeve. He drives a hard forehand and an even harder double-handed backhand.
What followed was a see-saw battle.
For a set and a half it was Sela who had his nose ahead. He broke Medvedev at 3-3, and went on to take the set 6-4. However, the Russian’s relentless attacking ensured he hung in there.
Early in the second set, he went up 3-1.
The tie played out to no discernible pattern. Sela first restored parity and then managed to go 5-4 up. It was in the ensuing game that he held a match-point at 40-30. Medvedev, as was his wont, daringly went for a backhand winner and succeeded. He took it to a tie-break, where he allowed Sela only two points.
The end came rather quickly. Sela conceded serve in the very first game of the third set. From there he started to wilt. In the return game immediately after, he did hold two break-points. But it just proved to be the dying fire.
In the doubles semifinal, Rohan Bopanna and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan notched up an impressive 7-6(4), 6-4 win over Nicholas Monroe and Artem Sitak to set up a final against Purav Raja and Divij Sharan.
“It can’t get better,” said Bopanna.
“I don’t think there has ever been an all-Indian final. It shows that these guys are right up there, fighting week in and week out.” - N. Sudarshan
