Medvedev crowned 2020 Rolex Paris Masters Champion

Russia’s Daniil Medvedev has moved up to fourth in the world after fighting back to beat Alexander Zverev and win the Paris Masters yesterday.

The 24 year old, who has now overtaken the injured Roger Federer in the ATP rankings, came back from a set down to beat the world number seven 5-7 6-4 6-1.

The Russian man, perhaps surprisingly, had not won a title in 2020 before last week’s closing Masters 1000 event.

The final started out as a very close encounter with both men looking extremely strong behind serve. In fact, up until the last game of the set there were no break points for either man.

Zverev, a year junior to Medvedev, raced to a 0-40 lead in the final game and got the first break to clinch the set.

The second set was similar in style, with both men hammering down first serves and holding. But this time round it was Medvedev who clinched the late break and set up a final set which had the looks of being a tight one.

However Zverev seemed to run out of steam and looked fairly bewildered out on court. He was broken three times by the Russian and denied a first Masters title since 2018.

In a draw that was topped by Rafael Nadal, who despite having 13 French Open titles in Paris, had never lifted the crown at the indoor event, it was inevitable that any one of the top seeds could challenge for the winning prize.

US Open runner up Alexander Zverev earned arguably the most impressive win in the semi final, when the German beat number one seed Nadal 6-4 7-5.

Medvedev overcame two former Wimbledon finalists en route to the final, in Kevin Anderson and semi final opponent Milos Raonic, as well as coming from a set down against 21 year old Alex de Minaur, and thrashing recent French Open semi finalist Diego Schwartzman 6-3 6-1.

The Russian won back to back Masters titles in the fall of last year, in Cincinnati and Shanghai. However this year, due to the Covid-19 suspension of the Tour, Medvedev was only playing his second Masters 1000 event. Though this does mean Medvedev has won three of the last five Masters tournaments he has played, showing how much of a danger at the level he is.

After the match he said in his on court interview: “It is great, I am really happy,

“Before the tournament, I was not in my best form, playing not so bad with zero finals this year,

“I was complaining to my wife like, ‘Oh my god, I don’t have the level. I don’t even have one final. I am playing so bad’,

“Finally, I am the winner of Bercy (a nickname given to the event), a tournament that I love.”

The world’s top eight players will now turn their focus to the season ending event in London at the O2 Arena starting November 15th.

With Federer absent, the two Paris finalists are joined by Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem. Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev and Diego Schwartzman.