Madrid [Spain], April 30 : The World No. 4 Daniil Medvedev, who has been one of the most consistent performers on the ATP Tour across the past five years, registered a triumph over Alexander Bublik at the Madrid Open to reach the quarter-finals on Tuesday.
With his 7-6(3), 6-4 triumph against Bublik in Madrid, Medvedev completed the full set of reaching at least the quarter-finals at all nine ATP Masters 1000 events.
The World No. 4 achieved a new mark on Tuesday, which is indicative of his propensity to consistently give his all on the greatest stages of tennis. In the opening set against Bublik, Medvedev, who made his maiden appearance in the 2019 Monte-Carlo last eight, overcame a breakdown to win the match in one hour and forty-four minutes inside Manolo Santana Stadium.
"It was a tough match. A lot of drop shots, and I got so tired in the end running for them. That's when you lose your concentration and you start to play a bit worse. That's what happened, but after the match he told me he was dead also. So good for me, at least I was not the only one," Medvedev said as quoted by ATP.
"Generally I felt like it was a good level. Some good points, some good serving and some bad serving. So it was a bit up and down, but I'm happy that I was able to stay more consistent and win it in the end," he added.
Despite a generally entertaining performance from Bublik, Medvedev was often given the runaround, as the simple scoreline concealed. In the fifth game of the match, the 17th-seeded Kazakhstani used his drop shot well to keep Medvedev off balance, but he was unable to take advantage of a broken serve.
"I think I watched only yesterday, the third set. The third set was pretty big in my opinion. He was not looking very tired, Pedro [Cachin] was. It will be interesting to see how it is today. I played Jiri in practice here before the tournament and he was playing some big tennis. So it is super interesting to see how it goes, to see if Rafa is better if he is tired or not tired, and I will get ready for the winner," Medvedev said of watching home favourite Rafael Nadal's matches in Madrid.
The crucial points in Medvedev's victory occurred in the first-set tie-break when he stormed to a 6/0 lead and took command of the match following a fiercely contested opening. The third seed sealed the first set and then blasted to a 4-0 lead in the second, which was eventually insurmountable because of his consistency in breaking down Bublik from the baseline.