World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev took a confidence-boosting step forward on the eve of Wimbledon as he claimed the first grass-court title of his career at the Mallorca Championships.
Top seed Medvedev took down big-serving American Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday to claim his second title of the year (also Marseille) and his 11th ATP Tour crown.
Medvedev bounced back emphatically after his first-round exit at the NOVENTI OPEN in Halle, where he fell to Jan-Lennard Struff in straight sets. He dropped only one set en route to the title in Mallorca, earning victories against Corentin Moutet, fifth seed Casper Ruud and fourth seed Pablo Carreno Busta on the way to the final.
The Russian, who typically returns serve from deep behind the baseline, used his return stance to his advantage as he worked to neutralise the big Querrey serve. The American fired 65 aces en route to the final, an average of 21 aces per match. But he was unable to find the same firepower against Medvedev, who kept him contained to 11 aces.
Medvedev earned his first break chance at 3-3 in the opening set after a double fault from Querrey, one of five he struck in the match. He set up break point after hitting a stunning lob over the 6’6” American before taking the lead.
He reached an even higher level in the second set, winning 93 per cent (13/14) of points behind his own big first serve. Medvedev didn’t face a break point in the match, and kept Querrey under pressure throughout. The top seed broke serve twice in the second set, and sealed the victory with his 10th ace of the match after 62 minutes.
Querrey was seeking his first ATP Tour title since 2017 in Los Cabos. He is now 10-10 in finals, and 8-9 on the season as he heads into Wimbledon.
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