Nadal beats long odds to conquer Medvedev
Facing match point at 5-1 down in the third set, Rafael Nadal gave himself about a one-in-1000 chance of turning things around against Daniil Medvedev at the ATP Finals in London.
Those odds turned out to be more than good enough for the top-ranked Spaniard.
Nadal saved that match point with a perfect drop shot and then rallied to beat Medvedev 6-7 (3) 6-3 7-6 (4) yesterday, keeping alive his chances of advancing from the group stage.
‘‘Today is one of those days that one out of 1000 you win and it happened today,’’ Nadal said. ‘‘In that moment [facing match point], what you think is probably in five minutes you are in the locker room, because that’s the more normal thing. In that moment, you play with not much pressure because you are almost lost.’’
Nadal looked headed for a second straight loss at the seasonending tournament but won five games in a row to go 6-5 up in the deciding set.
In the tiebreaker, Medvedev missed a routine forehand to hand Nadal a match point and then sent a backhand just wide.
That shot was initially called in but was overturned by HawkEye after Nadal challenged the decision.
The win gives Nadal a 1-1 record after two round-robin matches, while Medvedev fell to 0-2.
In the late match, Stefanos Tsitsipas beat defending champion Alexander Zverev 6-3 6-2 for his second straight win, a result that guarantees him a place in the semifinals.
Tsitsipas, who is making his debut at the tournament for the world’s top eight players after a breakthrough season, broke Zverev for a 5-3 lead in the first set and then twice more to go 5-1 up in the second.
With dozens of Greek flags being waved around the O2 Arena, Tsitispas then served out the match with an ace.
‘‘Once again, it was not just me out there, but a whole bunch of excited people that came to support me,’’ said Tsitsipas, the first Greek player to qualify for the event. ‘‘It was a crew situation.’’
Nadal’s win strengthens his grip on the year-end No 1 ranking, as it means Novak Djokovic has to win the tournament to have any chance of overtaking him.
Djokovic first has to beat Roger Federer today just to advance to the semifinals.