Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas square off in the 2022 Western & Southern Open semifinal. Medvedev, being number one, has come out as a favourite to win the game. Medvedev -250 goes against Tsitsipas +220; the 6’6 Russian has dominated the head-to-head series between these two by winning seven games out of nine. The last meeting between these players was at the 2022 Australian Open Semifinal; the game went to the 4th set and was won by Medvedev (7-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1). Stefanos Tsitsipas won against Medvedev in the 2021 French Open quarterfinals in three straight sets (6-3, 7-6, 7-5).
Medvedev has had an easy outing in the Cincinnati Masters, starting with a win in the RO 32 against B. van de Zandschulp (6-4, 7-5), following a hard-fought victory in the RO 16 against the Canadian D. Shapovalov (7-5, 7-5) and defeating the 11th seeded Taylor Fritz in the Quarterfinal (7-6, 6-3). In the quarters, Medvedev made 18 aces and has a win percentage of 72% on the 1st serve and 74% on the 2nd serve. Tsitsipas started the tournament journey by defeating Krajinovic (6-3, 6-4) in the RO 32, then defeated D. Schwartzman (6-3, 6-3) in the RO 16. The quarterfinal match against Isner was slightly competitive for him, but he made it through (7-6, 5-7, 6-3). In the first semis, I will go with Medvedev to win the match as he tops the head-to-head battle against Tsitsipas because he won seven out of nine games against him.
In the second semifinal, we will see Cameron Norrie going against Borna Coric. These two players have only met twice before, and both have won each game. In 2018 they first met at the Shenzhen Open, where Norrie defeated Coric (6-4, 7-6), and in their second meeting at the 2019 ATP Masters 100 in Rome, Coric came out as the winner in the RO 32 match (6-2, 6-2).
The 9th seeded player Norrie qualifies for the semis after tough quarters against the 3rd seeded Alcaraz, where they played for three sets (7-6, 6-7, 6-4). He has played three sets in all the qualifying matches except the RO 16, where he won in two sets (6-0, 6-2) against B. Shelton; the rest two matches, RO 64 and RO 32, went till the third set, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 against H. Rune and 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 against Murray. Borna Coric came as a surprise in the event, and people started to acknowledge him after he defeated Nadal in the RO 32 match (7-6, 4-6, 6-3), which was the only game which was played till three sets and the rest all games were won in two sets. 7-6, 6-3 in RO 64 against Musetti, 6-2, 6-3 against R. Bautista in RO 16 and then 6-4, 6-4 in the quarters against the seventh-seeded F. Auger-Aliassime. Per the ratings and standard of play, Norrie is the player who should win this match and qualify for the finals, but as Coric has displayed his performance in the tournament, I feel he can come up with an upset again.
