Daniil Medvedev ended Novak Djokovic’s 20-match successful streak by beating the world’s top-ranked participant 6-4, 6-4 to achieve the ultimate on the Dubai Championships on Friday.
The third-seeded Medvedev will face defending champion Andrey Rublev in an all-Russian remaining of the hard-court event.
The previous No. 1 participant picked up trophies in Rotterdam and Doha earlier than coming to Dubai and beating Djokovic to increase his successful streak to 13 matches, the second longest of his profession.
Medvedev broke Djokovic twice within the first set and once more to open the second, ultimately closing it out on his first match level.
Medvedev hadn’t crushed Djokovic for the reason that 2021 U.S. Open remaining for his first — and solely — main title. That win denied Djokovic the primary calendar-year Grand Slam in males’s singles since 1969.
Djokovic then gained their subsequent 4 conferences.
However Medvedev improved to 5-3 in opposition to Djokovic when the Serb is ranked first.
Djokovic was competing in his first occasion since successful the Australian Open for his record-equaling twenty second Grand Slam singles title. He hadn’t misplaced since November when he dropped the Paris Masters remaining to Holger Rune.
Earlier, Rublev superior by beating Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6 (9) within the different semifinal. He wanted six match factors to lastly put away Zverev for his first tour-level win over the German.
Rublev misplaced all 5 earlier matches in opposition to his longtime buddy, who reached his first semifinal for the reason that French Open final June.
The sixth-ranked Rublev saved a set level within the second-set tiebreaker.
“At the moment, once I was occurring court docket, I used to be pondering I’ve nothing to lose. He at all times beat me, so why I have to be tight,” Rublev mentioned.
Final yr, he beat Jiri Vesely for the title.
Rublev has crushed Medvedev the final two occasions they squared off together with on the ATP Finals final November.
That match is healthier remembered for Rublev’s attraction for peace. He wrote “Peace, Peace, Peace, All we’d like,” on a TV digital camera lens. He made the same attraction shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine simply over a yr in the past.