Fritz to meet Medvedev in the final of the Diriyah Tennis Cup

RIYADH: Defending champion Daniil Medvedev and world No. 10 Taylor Fritz will compete in the final at the Diriyah Tennis Cup presented by Aramco. The pair enjoyed semifinal wins over Stan Wawrinka and Cameron Norrie respectively on Friday at the Diriyah Arena and will now battle it out for the $1 million prize money.

In the day’s early match, world No. 7 Medvedev had to grind out a win against three-time Grand Slam winner Wawrinka. It was only in the ninth game in the first set that the Russian finally managed to break Wawrinka’s serve to finish the set 6-4. There were several serve breaks in the second set by both players, but after an hour and 21 minutes, the 25-year-old finished the game with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Wawrinka to maintain his phenomenal unbeaten run in Saudi Arabia.

Medvedev has enjoyed his Diriyah Tennis Cup streak.

“I have one more match to play tomorrow (Saturday) to be the two-times champion, but I liked the conditions of the weather in the desert, you know, I think the conditions are not easy to play because it’s windy but I like it which I benefit from it to win,” Medvedev told Arab News.

“When I go on court, I always think only about winning, and that’s how it is going to be tomorrow also, and that’s what I’m going to try to do, and we’ll see. I hope to show some good tennis when I go on court tomorrow,” he said in a post match press conference that saw 20 children from the Dhahran Junior Tennis Association attend as special guests.

It was an even closer encounter in the other semifinal between Fritz and Norrie, which went down to the third and final set. Nothing separated the pair in the first, leading to the match’s first tiebreak, where Fritz came out on top 6-4. The second set then went in