Dominic Thiem will have to break down the impenetrable Daniil Medvedev if he is to reach his first US Open…
Dominic Thiem will have to break down the impenetrable Daniil Medvedev if he is to reach his first US Open final.
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Daniil Medvedev vs Dominic Thiem | US Open men's SF | 11/9/2020, 11pm BST
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Medvedev vs Thiem is live from New York on Friday 11 September, 6pm local/11pm BST
After having come within a set of claiming the title in 2019, Daniil Medvedev is out to make back-to-back US Open finals as he takes on Dominic Thiem in Friday’s semifinals.
With four Grand Slam final appearances between them, Medvedev and Thiem are the heavyweights remaining in the draw, with the other semifinalists Alexander Zverev and Pablo Carreno Busta yetto reach one. Whoever wins the Thiem vs Medvedev clash will be favourite in the US Open final.
Read on for our preview, predictions and live streaming information.
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Medvedev vs Thiem: Head-to-head
Thiem leads the head-to-head with Medvedev 2-1, but Medvedev is actually 1-0 vs Thiem on outdoor hard courts.
Thiem beat Medvedev in a third-set tie-break on indoor hard courts in St Petersburg in 2018, and 6-4, 6-0 on clay in the Barcelona final in 2019. Medvedev won 6-3, 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the Canada Masters in August 2019.
Medvedev vs Thiem: Preview
Daniil Medvedev is the only player, of the four men who have reached the semifinals, who is yet to drop a set, and as the 2019 runner-up – who pushed Rafael Nadal to five sets in that final – he is many people’s pick to be the one crowned as the new Grand Slam champion guaranteed by the exit of Novak Djokovic.
Medvedev faced his toughest test of the tournament so far when he took on compatriot Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals, but preserved his perfect record against his friend from junior days with a 7-6(6), 6-3, 7-6(5) victory. Against a player of a very different mould – all about the flat hammered power from the baseline – Medvedev’s serve shone: He lost just six points behind his first serve in the match, finding 16 aces along the way, and did not face a single break point. (He only created one on Rublev’s serve, but converted it.)
The pivotal passages of play were obviously the two tie-breaks, each of which Medvedev edged as well as saving three set points on his way back from 3-6 down in the first set. More concerning was the treatment he required for a shoulder injury and for cramp midway through the third set. The emotion was obviously extreme, and the match hard-fought, but to be struggling physically after not dropping a set all tournament doesn’t necessarily bode that well coming into a clash with Dominic Thiem, a formidable physical specimen to say the least.
Thiem’s early-round performances didn’t impress much more than his one-sided defeat to Filip Krajinovic in ‘Cincinnati’. But the Austrian is, at this point, well-versed in getting to the closing stages of Grand Slams: Twice a runner-up at the French Open, he pushed Djokovic to five at the Australian Open in January. Thiem has been seemingly primed to win a major for about a year now, and I don’t think the fact that the draw has opened up with the absence of any Big Four players in the closing stages has changed his approach a whit.
Thiem has played his best tennis of the tournament in thumping Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alex de Minaur in straight sets, but he won’t be able to flatten Medvedev so easily. The Russian is serving brilliantly, and he’s a very difficult player to hit through; there will be many, many long grinding rallies. The question mark for me is the shoulder injury, not just from the point of view of Medvedev’s serve, but from handling the heavy, high-bouncing ball that Thiem hits. This is going to be a war of attrition, and Thiem looks slightly fitter, better-rested and prepared to go the distance.
Medvedev vs Thiem: Prediction
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Daniil Medvedev vs Dominic Thiem | US Open men's SF | 11/9/2020, 11pm BST
Over 42.5 games 2.10 Bet Now! New Customers only. 18+. T&C’s Apply. begambleaware.org.££10 bet returns £21 with 888 sport – Odds correct at 13.05 BST on 11/9/2020