Daniil Medvedev defeats Holger Rune, reaches Indian Wells SFs | ATP Tour

Indian Wells

‘Tough to play beautiful’, Medvedev masters Rune, reaches Indian Wells SFs

Last year’s finalist next meets American Paul

March 15, 2024

Daniil Medvedev converts four of 10 break points Thursday at the BNP Paribas Open.
By ATP Staff

Daniil Medvedev produced some of his best tennis Thursday at the BNP Paribas Open to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final since Rome last May.

A missed ball was a rare sight for the 28-year-old as he remained focussed to down seventh seed Holger Rune 7-5, 6-4 in a thrilling one-hour, 59-minute battle.

The World No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings, who reached the title match in Indian Wells a year ago, varied his return position, but frequently started deep beyond the baseline before taking a more aggressive stance within rallies. Medvedev won 62 per cent of his second-serve return points.

Rune often came to net in attempt to counter Medvedev’s deep position, but the 20-time tour-level titlist still found a way around the Dane or chased down any ball with quick speed.

“Tough conditions. Especially in the first set, it was very, very windy,” Medvedev said. “Tough to play beautiful, let’s call it this way. The only thing that you have to try and do is to win another point… I’m happy that in the end I managed to just be a tiny bit more solid, some good serves in important moments. Happy to be through in the next round.”

A topsy-turvy opening set featured three breaks of serve as both players delivered a high quality. But when Rune served a crucial deuce point at 5-5, he missed two routine errors — an overhead and a forehand in the middle of the court — on back-to-back points. Medvedev then held at love to gain a one-set advantage.

Medvedev recovered from an early break down in the second, tallying three straight games from 0-2. His consistency frustrated Rune, who committed 41 unforced errors throughout the night, according to Infosys ATP Stats. A six-time Masters 1000 champion, Medvedev even dug out of a 0/30 hole when serving for the match to improve to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Rune.

In the last four, Medvedev will face 17th seed and home favourite Tommy Paul, who took out Casper Ruud in three sets Thursday.

“Tommy is really strong. He has been [near] the Top 10 for a long time,” Medvedev said of the World No. 12, who he has beat in both of their meetings. “He’s playing good so that I know if I want to try to win, I need to be at my absolute best and that’s what I’m going to try to do.”

Boasting a 13-2 season record, Medvedev is aiming to complete the set of titles at all hard court ATP Masters 1000 events. He is seeking to be the tournament’s sixth consecutive first-time Indian Wells champion.