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NO SPOILERS 🎥

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Copil 🎥 Zverev (Basel)

Federer 🎥 Medvedev (Basel)

Kukushkin 🎥 Nishikori (Vienna)

Verdasco 🎥 Anderson (Vienna)

RESULTS 🎾

💥 = Beatdown \\ 🤕 = Injury \\ ‼️ = Upset

Featured Matches:

Federer d Medvedev (Basel): 6-1, 6-4 💥

Key 📊’s

Set 1: Much improved performance from Federer relative to his earlier matches this week. Footwork looked sharp, backhand was an offensive weapon, but most crucially his serve and forehand were absolutely firing. Landing a best of the week % of first serve in (68%) and winning 14/15 of those 1st serve points, the Swiss saved a singular break point in the opening game before shutting the door on his opponent entirely. Federer moved a tired looking Medvedev around the court brilliantly, exploiting his opponents slow recovery post-forehand (Medvedev is a little slower to recover back to the middle of the court than many of the other younger players after hitting his forehand), and generally giving Medvedev no time to feel comfortable. Federer’s first strike tennis was truly working for the first time this week, and Medvedev after playing a slightly ridiculous amount of tennis in the past few weeks, just looked like he had no energy to deal with the all-court barrage coming at him.

Set 2: More of the same, albeit with a much worse serving performance from Federer. The Swiss went 4-0 up despite landing just 31% of his 1st serves in up to that point. Fed once again saved an early break point, and then set about dismantling the flagging Medvedev, who started to play lower and lower margin groundstrokes, from the increasingly remote positions he was being pushed into.

Set 2: Medvedev struggled on serve himself, landing 53% of his first serves in and only winning 50% of those points. The Russian never looked comfortable with Federer almost always taking control of the point regardless of who was serving.

Set 2: Federer’s 1st serve, despite landing very sporadically, got him out of the only sticky situations he faced in the 2nd set, still winning 12/15 first serve points in the 2nd set.

Set 2: Federer had a match point for a 6-1, 6-1 win in 45 minutes, but Medvedev fought it off, and then broke Federer to love with the Swiss serving for it. Another match point came and went in Medvedev’s next service game, with the Russian suddenly looking like he’d chugged a pint of espresso. But Fed finally closed it out on serve at the second time of asking.

Overall, the best performance of the week from Federer, albeit against a very drained opponent. The Swiss seemed to really enjoy himself on court today, finding endless success with inside-the-baseline, early, aggression. As for Medvedev, the Russian has had a fantastic last month (title in Tokyo), and was always going to run out of gas after back-to-back weeks of tournaments.

🎾

Copil d A.Zverev (Basel): 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-4 ‼️

Key 📊’s

Set 1: It was a case of high risk, high reward for Copil, who landed only 51% of his 1st serves but tended to make them on the bigger points (winning 19/22 of his 1st serve points). The Romanian also hit 14 winners to 13 errors, coming up with some nice aggression when required, saving 3/3 break points with flat, seemingly easy, power.

Set 1: Zverev on the other hand was the more stable, conservative player, landing 76% of his first serves in (and hitting 8 winners to 9 errors), and only facing 2 break points to Copil’s 3. But Zverev was blown away by his opponents aggression when down break point, and then was kept at bay by a series of big 1-2 punches from Copil, as the Romanian cooly closed out the opening set.

Set 2: Zverev was the better player in the 2nd set, creating 3 break points to Copil’s 0. But once again Copil came up big when down in the score on serve, saving each BP to frustrate his opponent. Zverev’s forehand just didn’t do enough for large portions of this set, landing short even on mid-court, attackable balls. After Zverev couldn’t break through they headed to a breaker in which both players had chances. Zverev squandered a set point with a terrible volley before Copil crumbled on a forehand to tie the match at one set all.

Set 3: Both players looked secure on serve for the vast majority of the set. Neither faced a break point until the 10th game, with Zverev serving well and Copil (similar to the 1st set) coming up with un-returnable 1st serves whenever he looked even close to danger (winning 17/18 1st serve points).

Set 3: With Zverev serving to stay in the match, he let Copil back in the first point to go 0-15 down, dragged a routine backhand wide to go 15-30 down, and then was let down by his forehand yet again after Copil took advantage of a short ball (Copil struck a beautiful backhand winner off it). Fortune once again favoured the brave as Copil converted his first match point by crushing a return onto Zverev’s toes before taking control of the point, finishing it with a volley cross court.

Overall things went Copil’s way today. The Romanian was the aggressor for the vast majority of the match (48 winners, 54 errors), and it all came together, with some brilliant flat groundstrokes, and huge first serves, paying serious dividends. Copil played the big points incredibly well, and blew his opponent off the court when it mattered. As for Zverev, once again he was too passive on his forehand side on the bigger points (25 winners, 31 errors). It feels like the German has developed a full blown complex with that shot where he doesn’t want to hit it full (or close to full) pace when there is pressure on the score.

🎾

Also:

Vienna🇦🇹:

Nishikori d Kukushkin: 6-4, 6-3

Another really solid performance from Nishikori, who continues to look like the favourite in Vienna. The first set featured Kei facing 0 break points and looking very secure on both first and second serves (82% and 75% points won respectively). Kukushkin on the other hand faced 4 break points (saving 3) but looked outclassed from the baseline as Nishikori dealt with his no-spin, flat groundstrokes better than any other player Kukushkin had faced this week. In the 2nd set Nishikori finally faced some pressure, in the form of 2 break points, but the Japanese saved them both in style, with some wonderful all-court tennis and net play. Kei started dominating his opponents 2nd serve, winning 57% of those points, and generally looking the more dangerous player despite Kukushkin playing much improved tennis in comparison to the first set. Nishikori grabbed an early break and never let go, converting his first match point with yet another brilliant backhand winner down the line.

Anderson d Verdasco: 6-3, 3-6, 6-4

A deserved win for Anderson, who created far more chances than Verdasco, but at times today struggled to put his opponent away. Verdasco saved 7/10 break points, while Anderson only faced 4 (saving 2). Verdasco looked more and more clutch as the match went on, and Anderson’s fitness work over the past two years definitely helped get the South African over the line today, especially given how well Verdasco sticks around in long matches like this. Kando’s 1st serve was a huge weapon as usual, landing a scary 71% of his 1st delivery in, and winning 77% of those points. This consistency on 1st serve softened the blow of how well Verdasco attacked his opponents second serve, winning 62% of those points. 19 aces, on quite a slow Vienna court, is a good sign for Anderson, who will need a banner serving performance to get past Nishikori (the tournaments best returner) tomorrow.

SHOTS OF THE DAY 😮

— Brilliant touch from Nishikori (vs Kukushkin).

— Another angle. Love the little hop from Kei to help the ball on its way.

— Nishikori has been deadly on return all week. Crazy fast footwork to get around this ball and crush a forehand.

— Great to see Copil (vs Zverev) use some serve and volley. Especially given how big his 1st serve is.

— Great feel and awareness on this lob from Zverev. He knows how close Copil was to the net, and as a result played it with plenty of margin. Didn’t need to be that good/deep.

— Wonderful surprise drop shot from Copil. The ball didn’t even land that close to the net, just completely bamboozled Zverev.

— BOOM 🚀

— Copil’s first reaction-volley was crazy good.

— Federer with a sort of left-handed pull to finish this point. 🏏

— Good signs for Federer. Has been missing this offensive backhand, from a defensive position, for much of this season.

— Enormous forehand down the line from Federer. Medvedev couldn’t do anything but stare at it.

— Not entirely sure what Medvedev was doing in no-mans-land, but pretty sweet to see a slice return ace regardless.

OOP: FINAL (SUNDAY) ⏰

Match to watch: 🔥

—

Basel - Centre Court

(3pm local🇨🇭, 2pm UK🇬🇧, 8am CT🇺🇸)

🇨🇭 Federer vs Copil 🇷🇴 (1st Meeting) 🔥

Prediction: Federer in 3

Vienna - Centre Court

(2pm local🇨🇭, 1pm UK🇬🇧, 7am CT🇺🇸)

🇯🇵 Nishikori vs Anderson 🇿🇦 (H2H: 4-2) (Hard Court H2H: 3-2) 🔥

Prediction: Nishikori in 3

EXTRAS 🔍📊🎤

— Rafa the first of the Big 3 to hit the Paris practice courts. Good to see him back.

— Djokovic practiced in Paris a few hours later. Looked very relaxed (as you’d expect).

— Oof, not a good look. To her credit the ballgirl kind’ve laughs it off, but Tsitsipas needs to check his emotions. Clearly it’s frustrating losing a tight match to someone you dislike (Medvedev), especially at the age of 20 when your pride is more pronounced. But this is shitty. Credit to https://twitter.com/Wuteridge for the clip.

Credit to Tsitsipas though, for acknowledging and apologising quickly. Many others in similar positions just ignore the criticism:

— Zverev’s core problem (the first forehand he hits). 15-30, serving to stay in the match. Mid court ball off a Copil slice and he just bats it back in play, safe & short, with his forehand. He has to be proactive and play the point on his terms (especially against a player who has been crushing everything short). Instead he loses court position/control & Copil sets up 2 MP's.

LOL 😂

— Medvedev is just trolling Tsitsipas now. Such a shit-stirrer 😂

— TFW you shank another forehand and don’t want anyone to see.

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GAME, SET, MATCH 👋

— The Racquet is created, and written, by Matt.

— You can find me on Twitter here.

See you tomorrow for the Basel & Vienna Finals!