Daniil Medvedev has beaten Novak Djokovic five times in 14 encounters. Interestingly, the Russian scored all five triumphs when the Serb was world no. 1. Thus, Medvedev joined an exclusive list of players with five victories over world no.
1 Djokovic, joining Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Roger Federer
. Novak became world no. 1 in July 2011 after winning Wimbledon, and beating him while he is at the top has always been challenging. Nadal scored ten wins over his as world no.
1, and Andy Murray and Roger Federer added five each. Medvedev has now matched Federer and Murray, with a good chance of passing him if he maintains this level for the rest of the year. Daniil toppled Novak 6-4, 6-4 in the Dubai semi-final, delivering the Serb’s first loss in 2023.
Djokovic came into the semi-final with a 20-match winning streak. However, Medvedev ended the rival’s streak and grabbed his 13th straight victory. Djokovic praised Medvedev and called him a better opponent in both sets. Novak made too many errors in the crucial moments, unable to push the opponent to the limits on the return and getting broken three times.
Medvedev hit 20 winners and 12 unforced errors, taming his strokes nicely and forging the advantage in the most advanced exchanges. Djokovic took only two points less than his rival, but those three breaks were too much to overcome.
Novak held at love in the encounter’s opening game with a volley winner, and Daniil locked the result at 1-1 with a service winner. World no. 1 lost ground at 2-2, squandering a game point and losing an extended rally after netting a slice to lose serve.
Medvedev fired a service winner in the sixth game to confirm the break. He grabbed another return game after Djokovic’s volley error in game seven to open a 5-2 gap. The Serb pulled one break back in game eight to prolong the set and held at love with a service winner to reduce the deficit to 5-4.
Daniil Medvedev has beaten world no. 1 Novak Djokovic five times.
Daniil came from 30-15 down in the tenth game and wrapped up the set with a forehand winner for 6-4 in 39 minutes. Djokovic experienced another setback at the start of the second set, wasting a 40-15 advantage and losing four straight points to find himself a set and a break down.
Medvedev held at love in game two and closed the fourth game after deuce for 3-1. Novak grabbed the fifth game after deuces, doing his best to remain in touch and hoping for more chances on the return. Instead, Daniil secured the sixth game after deuce and opened a 5-3 gap with an ace two games later.
Novak served to stay in the match in game nine and closed it after deuce to extend the battle. The Russian served for the victory at 5-4 and earned a match point following a touchy drop shot winner at the net. Medvedev seized it with a forehand winner to deliver his fifth victory over Djokovic and move into the final.
