Top-seeded Daniil Medvedev will bid for his 10th career title when he meets unseeded Pierre-Hugues Herbert in an unusual-looking Open 13 final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sunday’s decider pits two-time Grand Slam runner-up Medvedev against a player who owns all four majors in doubles but has never won a singles title, and is ranked 93rd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Medvedev, who climbs to No. 2 in the rankings next week, led 6-4, 3-0 against qualifier Matthew Ebden when the Australian retired through an unspecified injury on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Really unfortunate to end the match like this. I knew that even with an injury I had to just continue playing, trying to win, Medvedev said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You cannot give easy points just because he’s injured. So I really sorry for him, hopefully he can recover fast and it’s nothing serious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boosted by his win over second-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday, Herbert brushed aside fourth-seeded Ugo Humbert 6-3, 6-2. He had nine aces and did not face a single break point in their all-French match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The surprise final is a result of Herbert’s largely unexpected run. He beat former No.4-ranked Kei Nishikori earlier this week at the indoor tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Medvedev, however, is heavy favorite considering that the Australian Open runner-up’s victory on Saturday means he has won 22 of his last 24 matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Herbert’s serve-and-volley style could cause him some problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 287th-ranked Ebden the lowest ranked semifinalist in the tournament’s 28-year-history disturbed Medvedev’s rhythm at times and Medvedev had to save three break points in the first set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He’s a tough opponent to play, he does serve and volley, he plays (with) no rhythm, so that’s why it’s tough to say if I played well or not,” Medvedev said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“But looking forward for tomorrow. Luckily this time no crowd, because a final against a French guy in Marseille with a crowd would be not an easy challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When he climbs to No. 2 on Monday, Medvedev will be the first player outside the Big Four of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray to do so since Nadal in July 2005.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Top-seeded Daniil Medvedev will bid for his 10th career title when he meets unseeded Pierre-Hugues Herbert in an unusual-looking Open 13 final. Sunday’s decider pits two-time Grand Slam runner-up Medvedev against a player who owns all four majors in doubles but has never won a singles title, and is ranked 93rd. Medvedev, who climbs to No. 2 in the rankings next week, led 6-4, 3-0 against qualifier Matthew Ebden when the Australian retired through an unspecified injury on Saturday. “Really unfortunate to end the match like this. I knew that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29728"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29728"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29730,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29728\/revisions\/29730"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}