Medvedev Rallies To Stay Perfect Against Sinner, Wins Rotterdam Title

Daniil Medvedev rallied from a set done to defeat Jannik Sinner 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 to win the Rotterdam title on Sunday.

The Russian collected his 16th career title and first in Rotterdam, and 15th overall on hard courts. And he handed Sinner just his second defeat in nine career tour-finals.

“It was a very tough match, I would say mentally for both of us, I think,” said Medvedev to the ATP. “Jannik was on top of me, especially in the first part of the first set. I managed to come back into the set even though, in my opinion, I was playing worse than him. Maybe that gave me some time to find my rhythm.

“I started playing just a little bit more offensive on a few shots, and it managed to work well at the beginning of the second set. I just managed to continue pushing him mentally down until the end of the match.”

Medvedev broke in the seventh game of the third set for 5-2 then served it out, winning the final three games of the match.

The 21-year-old Sinner had won his last seven matches thanks in part to a strong service game. But today, he managed just winning just 59%on first serve points, 41% on second serves and was broken five times.

“I played many matches in the past days and I’m very happy to be in this kind of position,” Sinner said. “Obviously in the first set I felt great, I started off in the best way. In the second, the momentum changed a little bit and in the third set I didn’t serve that well.

“But I think I have improved, especially against him, and so I will try to look forward to [more] of these kinds of matches.”

Medvedev improves to 5-0 in tour-level head-to-head meetings with Sinner.

Sinner was looking for his 8th career title.