As he closed in on victory over Jan-Lennard Struff, Daniil Medvedev suffered a nosebleed. That can happen when you fly at altitude. Medvedev, who overcame the German 6-4, 6-4 to seal a victory that puts Russia through to the Davis Cup final for the first time since 2007, is finishing a season in which he has touched rare heights with a flourish.
This was the world No 2’s fourth successive straight-sets victory at the finals in Madrid, and it was accomplished with clinical efficiency. Having bemoaned his inconsistency on serve after double-faulting nine times in his last-eight win over Sweden’s Mikael Ymer, Medvedev was flawless here, nailing seven aces, landing 100% of his second serves and saving the only break point he faced with a stinging first delivery. Love holds were the norm, unforced errors the exception as the Russian limited himself to an unseasonably miserly six mistakes.
The sharp volleying and aggressive all-court play that earned the 51st-ranked Struff a win over Medvedev in Halle earlier this year was once again in evidence, but the Russian’s ability to raise his game at critical junctures proved decisive. A sweeping forehand forced a rare half-volley error from Struff in the ninth game of the first set, while a majestic topspin backhand lob laid the groundwork for an early break in the second.
With Struff safely dispatched, Medvedev trained his sights on the Madrid crowd, who greeted his victory with a chorus of boos. In bizarre scenes, the Russian pointed to the court and stamped his foot, soaking up the resulting opprobrium before his using his on-court interview to goad the locals about his team’s win over Spain earlier in the week.
“Everything I do, especially on the court even more than in life, is pure emotions. In life I’m more calm,” said Medvedev, who explained that his foot-stomping was inspired by a goal celebration performed by Cristiano Ronaldo during his time at Real Madrid. “On a tennis court, it’s different. It’s a lot of adrenaline going on. I hate to lose. There is less time and less power in myself to stop and think. So I go with emotions, which sometimes is good, sometimes is not good.”
Andrey Rublev earlier laid the groundwork for Russia’s triumph with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Dominik Koepfer. The result marked a welcome upturn in form for Rublev, who had previously struggled to find his best level in Madrid, losing to the Spanish veteran Feliciano López and battling through in three against Roberto Quiroz of Ecuador and Sweden’s Elias Ymer.
“In the other matches I was feeling, ‘I’m winning quite easy, I don’t need to do much effort,’ and in the end I was completely relaxed,” said Rublev, the world No5. “I was giving up [ground] to the other guy. Then they start to play better, start to shoot better. Then I was losing or winning in three sets. The difference today was that from the beginning, I was pumped, I was trying more [to win], to play as [well]as I can, to not give any hope, any chance. In the end I was able to win quite easy.”
In the doubles, Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz defeated Karen Khachanov and Aslan Karatsev 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to conclude Germany’s Davis Cup adventure on a winning note. But although the county progressed to the last four for the first time since 2007 despite the absence of world No 3 Alexander Zverev, who elected not to play, team coach Michael Kohlmann was left disappointed by his side’s inability to run Russia closer.
“They were always in their comfort zone,” said Kohlmann, who presided over victories against Great Britain and, in the group stage, a Serbia team spearheaded by world No 1 Novak Djokovic. “That was, I think, the only thing which I’m now a little bit disappointed [about], that we couldn’t be in one spot where we had actually the chance of getting the spectators involved, because I thought the neutral spectators maybe were a little bit more on our side.
“Overall, we can be very proud to be here, to get to Madrid. We had three really tough wins in Innsbruck, I think we showed strong performances there throughout the week. Nobody expected us to be in the semi-finals.”
The Russian Tennis Federation – the banner under which Medvedev and company are competing because of Russia’s two-year ban from sport due to doping violations – will face Croatia, 2-1 winners over Serbia, in Sunday’s final.