Weary Thiem bounced in Rogers Cup quarters
Medvedev ‘expected tougher match,’ cruising to victory in under an hour
Dominic Thiem ran out of gas.
That was the simple explanation for Thiem’s 6-3, 6-1 loss to Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-finals at the Rogers Cup Canadian Open men’s tennis championships on Friday.
The No. 8 seed Medvedev needed only 57 minutes to beat Thiem, whose transition to the hard court season was made more difficult because he arrived here on Sunday after winning a tournament on clay in his native Austria.
“With all the travelling and short transition, two very tough matches yesterday and two days ago, I think the battery was empty today,” said the second-seeded Thiem.
“I wasn’t on 100 per cent.
This is just not enough in the quarter-finals of a Masters 1000, especially against a guy like Daniil, who is in a great shape, who is playing amazing tennis. I wasn’t able to go the long rallies with him. That’s basically the only chance to beat him. It’s just a logical score and result, what happened today.”
Thiem said he was generally pleased with his time in Montreal, which included a threeset win over Canadian Denis Shapovalov followed by a victory over Marin Cilic. Those were his first victories in Canada after five first-round losses in his previous Rogers Cup appearances.
“At the end, it was a good tournament,” said Thiem. “I couldn’t expect to come from Kitzbuhel to here and go all the way. I mean, I’m not a machine. The opponents are way too good. I’m satisfied with my tournament. I’ll try to get ready to be 100 per cent (next week) in Cincinnati.”
Medvedev said he was pleased with the ease of his victory
“I was expecting a tougher match,” he said. “I was happy that I was able to play so well, to beat him so easily. It saved me a lot of energy. It gave me a lot of confidence, so I’m very happy.”
Medvedev’s semifinal opponent will be countryman Karen Khachanov. The No. 6 seed had to work only a bit harder than Medvedev as he upset the 2017 Rogers Cup winner, third-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany, 6-3, 6-3 in one hour, 14 minutes.
In evening play, No. 1 Rafael Nadal of Spain advanced to the semifinals by rallying past Italy’s Fabio Fognini 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Medvedev and Khachanov are both 23 and grew up together in Moscow, but they have only played once on the ATP Tour.
“We had one match last year in Moscow and it was very tough,” said Khachanov. “It’s never easy to play against a friend from the same country. We played all the same tournaments since 12 or 14 and we know each other pretty well.
“From one side it’s difficult, but from the other side, both of us, we know what to expect, how we are playing completely different styles. Yeah, it would be an interesting match. We played just once in Moscow last year, in our hometown. There was more tension because you play at home.”
Khachanov was solid from the baseline, while Zverev appeared frustrated as his unforced errors piled up.
“I think he didn’t play his best, of course,” said Khachanov. “On the other side, I played a good match tactically, I played solid from the baseline. Maybe he was missing a little bit more. That’s why he got frustrated. Once you are missing and losing, you are never happy.”
Khachanov created some controversy on Thursday when he complained about the crowd cheering his mistakes in a match against local favourite Felix Auger-aliassime.
But he had no complaints on Friday. “Today was much better,” he told the crowd after his win. I didn’t like (you) before but today I like.”
But Thiem had a different take on the fans’ behaviour.
“I think it’s normal if you play a Canadian, or if you play a local, that the whole crowd is against you,” said Thiem. “I think you should accept it and still enjoy the atmosphere. That’s how I see it. You don’t see a lot of tournaments where first match, 12 p.m., the stadium is full. For me, there is nothing nicer than to play in front of a full stadium. In general, the crowd here is amazing. They love tennis.”