Shanghai Masters 2019: Medvedev and Zverev herald youthful milestone

Since the start of this millennium, the elite tournaments on the ATP tour have enjoyed the name of ‘Masters’.

In 2000, the top nine events were grouped as the Tennis Masters Series, and since then, none of those tournaments has had a final-four line-up made entirely of players younger than 24.

Now Shanghai, which joined the Masters family a decade ago, has set that milestone. Its four semi-finalists were No3 seed, Daniil Medvedev, age 23, against No6 seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas, age 21, while the 23-year-old No11 seed, Matteo Berrettini, took on 22-year-old No5 seed, Alexander Zverev.

Why so long? The story is a familiar one: In quick succession, three of the greatest men ever to lift a tennis racket began to peak.

First was the now 38-year-old Roger Federer, who won his first Masters title in 2002 amid long-retired stars such as Andre Agassi and Marat Safin, and has gone on to win 28 crowns.

Then came the precocious Rafael Nadal, now age 33 and with 35 Masters titles. Two years later, it was Novak Djokovic, 32 years old and winner of 33 Masters. The next year, his close contemporary Andy Murray began to pick up a chunk of titles, 14 of them.

In short, there have been slim pickings for anyone else, and although Murray has loosened his grasp following repeated hip surgeries, the ‘big three’ still fill the top spots both in the 12-month ranks and the Race to London, and each has won a Masters title this season.

But the last two years have seen a new generation of players emerge who, though they have yet to win a Major, have begun to make their presence felt in the Masters.

It began with Zverev, who won the first of three Masters titles in Rome at just turned 20. Indeed he made five Masters finals in the space of 12 months.

He was followed by Tsitsipas, who played the first of two Masters finals in Toronto last year on the day he turned 20.

Medvedev made his impact this year, backing up a final run at the Montreal Masters with victory in Cincinnati.

And in the last 12 months, Borna Coric made the final of Shanghai and Karen Khachanov won the Paris Masters, at the age of 21 and 22 respectively.

Shanghai this year, though, represents another step forward from the army of aspiring champions. Tsitsipas and Zverev put out Djokovic and Federer in tough three-setters in the quarter-finals: the former now has wins over all the ‘big three’, the latter has multiple wins over Federer and Djokovic.

All four men may well line up against the ‘old guard’ at the ATP Finals—indeed Tstisipas and Medvedev are already in, while Zverev and Berrettini are next in line at Nos 7 and 8 in the Race.

The first match revisited a budding rivalry between Medvedev and Tsitsipas, one that had gone in the Russian’s direction thus far with all four wins. But their matches had been close, and Tsitsipas was growing into his prodigious all-court talent with every passing month. His one-handed, swash-buckling style had a burgeoning army of fans, and his victory over Djokovic took him to the ATP Finals for the first time.

As Medvedev put it: “Stefanos is improving every week. He’s still so young. He has two more years than me to improve.”

The Greek began the year with a semi run at the Australian Open, picked up two titles, made a second Masters final, and then the Beijing final last week.

But in Medvedev, he faced one of the most successful players of the year. The Russian had made eight finals, two of them in Masters, and had gone on to win three titles, one of them the Cincinnati Masters. Now he was aiming for a ninth final—again at Masters level—and his sixth consecutive final.

He was on a tour-leading 57 match-wins, had won 27 of his past 30 matches, and had not dropped a set since his remarkable five-set battle against Nadal in the US Open final.

The first set would bring all the power and precision of both players to bear, neck and neck to 4-4. Tsitsipas looked ready to seize control as he worked 0-40 for three break points, but Medvedev’s ever-improving mental toughness was up to the challenge, and he produced five top-notch serves to hold.

However, the Greek took the Russian to a tie-break for the first time in his current winning streak, and there too, each server looked impregnable through the first 10 points, until Medvedev finally got his opening and served it out, 7-6(5).

The Russian looked increasingly dangerous at the start of the second: a cross-court forehand winner brought up break point, and a backhand pass down the line got an early break.

Yet Tsitsipas thrives under pressure, and he called on the crowd to give him more noise. It worked, and the Russian made four errors as he attempted to serve out the set. Tsitsipas broke to level, 5-5.

But then it was the Greek’s turn to waver, he made a couple of tight errors, and was broken. He launched a ball into the crowd, berated himself all the way to his seat, and got a warning from the umpire. Meanwhile, Medvedev remained the calmest man in the arena, and lifted his racket aloft as if to say, ‘Can I have some support now?’

That calmness served him well: He refocused, and this time held with aplomb, and made a huge swing volley winner for 7-5, sealing a place in his ninth final this year.

Reminded of his recent record, he grinned:

“Yes, my sixth straight final… Think it’s a great achievement. I’m proud of myself.

“Making six in a row, including three Masters 1000s and one Grand Slam, is something I could never dream of, to be honest. But I want to keep the momentum going and hope I can make it to seven or eight.”

If he is to win his fourth title of 2019, and his second Masters, he will have to overturn a losing record against Zverev, for the German continued his return to top form over the less experienced Berrettini.

Zverev’s win over Federer to reach the semis had already proved that the German’s difficult start to the year—his first-round loss at Wimbledon was his sixth of the season—was certainly a thing of the past. He had regained his attack, his serve, his self-belief, and was beginning to look more like the man who beat both Federer and Djokovic to win the ATP Finals last November.

The German put it thus:

“I finally started to play the way I should play. I was playing really defensive earlier in the year, with not a lot of confidence…but finally started to play better tennis. Hope I can continue to play this way.”

And he did, against the newest member of the rising generation in what was Berrettini’s first Masters semi.

Zverev’s serving shone from the first, and he followed a minute-long love hold with a break for a 3-1 lead. Berrettini worked his way into the match a little more, but was making too many errors, and the German served out the set, again to love, after half an hour, 6-3, having dropped only two points on serve.

The Italian started the second more confidently, and by 4-4, he had dropped just one point on serve. Even his deft drop-shots were starting to work, but then it all fell apart. A run of errors, his first serve gone AWOL, and he was facing 0-40.

The Italian did close to deuce, but on the fourth break point, he thumped a volley long. Zverev would serve for the match, and he aced an impressive hold, 6-4, after little more than an hour.

He has a 4-0 record over Medvedev, but they have not played in over a year—and the Russian has moved on apace since then. As Zverev said:

“We’ve played some fantastic matches, all going my way until now. I hope tomorrow that will not change. But he’s been playing some fantastic tennis, sixth final in a row, US Open finalist, won Cincinnati. He’s probably the best player in the world right now.”

The final begins at 4.30pm local time [9.30am in the UK].

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