ATP CUP 2021: Daniil Medvedev vs Diego Schwartzman – Preview, Head to head & Prediction
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The match schedule for the 2021 ATP Cup, the 12-country event being played at Melbourne Park from 2-6 February, has been released. The tournament dates have been pushed back 24 hours to allow quarantined players the best possible preparation and training opportunities.
Rising Russian Daniil Medvedev and World No.9, Diego Schwartzman will begin their 2021 campaign on on Day 1 of the ATP Cup. Being the top-seeded players from their nations, the Russian and the Argentine will square off for the sixth time to determine the Group D standings on the first day.
Match Details:
Date: 2nd February, 2021
Tournament: ATP Cup 2021
Fixture: Daniil Medvedev vs Diego Schwartzman
Round: Group stage
Venue: John Cain Arena, Melbourne, Australia
Category: ATP Cup
Prize Money: $7,500,000
Daniil Medvedev vs Diego Schwartzman : Match Preview
Medvedev’s 2020 season was underwhelming until he ended his lackluster form by winning the Rolex Paris Masters at the start of November. This marked both his first title and his first top ten victory by beating Diego Schwartzman in the quarterfinals first and then German Alexander Zverev in the finals.
Medvedev started the season at the inaugural edition of the ATP Cup 2020. As Russia’s top ranked singles player, he led his nation to the semifinals where they were eliminated by the Serbian team. He then competed at the US Open where he reached the semifinals without dropping a set before losing to eventual champion Dominic Thiem. The Russian ended his year on a massive high after claiming his debut ATP Finals title in London after defeating top players – Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Thiem in his impressive run.
In all, Medvedev won two titles last year along with bagging victories against top contenders of the sport; ending 2020 as one of ATP’s standout players.
2020 witnessed the World No.9 Diego Schwartzman as the first Argentine to break into the Top 10 since Juan Monaco in 2012. Besides this, the short Argentine made it to his first Masters final, first Roland Garros semi-finals and also made his debut at the year-end ATP Finals.
At the 2020 Australian Open, Schwartzman reached the fourth round without dropping a set, but was defeated by the eventual champion, Novak Djokovic. At the 2020 Italian Open, Schwartzman defeated nine-time champion and World No. 2 Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the quarterfinals, his first victory against Nadal.
At the 2020 French Open, Schwartzman defeated World No.3 Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals in a five-set match that took five hours and eight minutes to complete. Schwartzman qualified for the 2020 ATP Finals as one of the top 8 players in the world however, he was eliminated in the round robin stage.
Daniil Medvedev vs Diego Schwartzman : Head to head
The pair have faced each other five times in their career with Medvedev coming through all times. They last faced each other in the round-robin stage of the ATP Finals. The Russian comfortably leads the head to head race- 5-0.
Daniil Medvedev vs Diego Schwartzman : Match Prediction
Mirroring the level of play Medvedev delivered to close out the 2020 season on a 10-match win streak with seven Top 10 victories; it evidently appears that the Russian is not going to experience much difficulty with first match of the 2021 campaign against sixth-time opponent, Diego Schwartzman.
However, the 28 year-old Argentine has always been hungry for success and is packed with surprises after he proved it with a victory over the ‘King of Clay’ Rafa Nadal on his territory at the Italian Open last year.
But given Medvedev’s usage of surprise tactics to his strengths and keeping his opposition off-balance with bold serving; the last laugh seems to be favoring the Russian who is predicted to win the match in straight sets, yet again against the Argentine.
Match Prediction: Daniil Medvedev in straight sets.
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