'Him or me': Daniil Medvedev's coach's mid-match walkout after 'catastrophic' start
Russian top seed Daniil Medvedev overcame a “catastrophic” start to beat Jannik Sinner 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 and reach the Open 13 quarterfinals on Thursday.
The US Open runner-up, who lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open last month, dropped his serve twice but broke the 18-year-old Italian's serve four times at the indoor tournament in Marseille.
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The fifth-ranked Medvedev, who had seven aces, next faces French veteran Gilles Simon - who won their two previous meetings. Simon advanced with a 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 win against Aljaz Bedene.
But the match was marred after the Russian’s coach appeared to walk out during the match.
No. 1 seed Daniil Medvedev recovered from a catastrophic first set to beat Jannik Sinner comfortably with 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 in Marseille after just an hour and 20 minutes.
From the second set, Medvedev changed tack in the backhand exchanges and massively improved his defensive work.— Alex | Tennis 🎾 (@Alex_Boroch) February 20, 2020
Daniil Medvedev loses just *4* serve points in the last two sets, beats Jannik Sinner 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 to reach the QFs in Marseille. 1h22.
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) February 20, 2020
Medvedev has gained a reputation on tour for giving the crowd as good as they give. This was seen during his ongoing battle with the crowd at the US Open that saw him goad them when they booed him.
But this time, his frustration turned to his coach and Gilles Cervara told French publication L’Equipe he wasn’t in the mood to deal with Medvedev’s antics.
“When I see Daniil with that kind of attitude, that energy during the first set, crying over all the lost points, it annoys me,” Cervara told sports daily L’Equipe.
“I told myself, ‘He has to react. Either it’s him or it’s me.’ It was me. I didn’t want to support that behaviour at that point, knowing that if he carried on like that he was heading straight into a wall.”
Shapovalov advances
Also on Thursday, fourth-seeded Denis Shapovalov hit 17 aces in a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win against hard-hitting Croat Marin Cilic. The 20-year-old Canadian next plays Alexander Bublik.
In later matches, 19-year-old Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime - seeded seventh - was facing Frenchman Pierre Hugues-Herbert with No. 3 David Goffin playing qualifier Egor Gerasimov.
With AAP
