Daniil Medvedev (Russia) vs. Alexander Zverev (Germany) – Score prediction (13.10.2019)

Overview.

While Alexander Zverev holds a dominant 4-0 lead in the H2H series against his good friend, the Russian is the most in-form player on tour and has got a lot of momentum on his side, which makes it difficult to pick a winner here. Though Daniil Medvedev hasn’t dropped a set in eight matches and deservedly starts as the favorite, expect the German to nick at least a set here.

Daniil Medvedev just can’t stop winning at the moment as he bagged his eighth consecutive straight-set win on the tour by defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinal of Shanghai Masters on Saturday. It was a closely contested match but the Russian raised his game and played better tennis on crucial points which made the difference in the end, 7-6 7-5. It was the top-ranked Russian’s fifth win against the world #7 Stefanos Tsitsipas in five meetings. He previously defeated the Greek youngster in the round of 16 in Monte Carlo Masters earlier this season and backed it up with an impressive three-set win over Novak Djokovic in the following match.

The match on Sunday will be Daniil Medvedev’s sixth consecutive finals appearance on the main tour. He has won 28 of his last 31 matches on the main tour, which includes two title-winning campaigns in Cincinnati Masters and St.Petersburg and three runner-up finishes in the US Open, Washington and Montreal. Alexander Zverev will be the world #4 Daniil Medvedev’s second top 10 opponent in two days. The Russian is 7-6 this year (8-14 in career) against the top 10 players and managed to win four of the recent six such meetings with those two losses coming against Rafael Nadal in the final of Montreal Masters and the US Open.

“Making six [finals] in a row, including three Masters 1000’s and one Grand Slam, is something I could never dream of, to be honest. But I want to keep the momentum going and hope I can make it to seven or eight,” said Medvedev, who bids to win the six ATP Tour title of his career (second in Masters 1000 events).

Alexander Zverev followed up his big win over Roger Federer in the quarterfinal with a fairly comfortable straight-set win over Matteo Berrettini in the semifinal of Shanghai Masters. The German fired 11 aces, won around 91% of his first-serve points and did not face a breakpoint on his serve, 6-3 6-4. Former world #3 Alexander Zverev was one of the consistent performers in Masters 1000 events in 2017 and 2018 — champion in Madrid, Canada, and Rome — but the lack of confidence and form so far in 2019 means this will be his first championship match at this level in over 12 months (Madrid Masters 2018).

Alexander Zverev acknowledged the Russian’s terrific recent run of form and even called him the best player in the world at the moment. “In the past few months, he’s [Medvedev] probably the best player in the world, making it to six finals in a row, winning a Masters [1000], making it to the US Open final. So he’s definitely been playing the best tennis of his life,” said Zverev.

The last and only time a non-Big Four player won the Shanghai Masters title was the Russian Nikolay Davydenko during the inaugural edition in 2009 — defeated Rafael Nadal in straight sets. One of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray has managed to lift this title for nine consecutive seasons between 2010 to 2018 and these two youngsters would be looking to join the prestigious list this Sunday.

Match Info.

Competition: ATP – SINGLES: Shanghai (China), hard – Final
Start: 13.10.2019, 8:30 UTC.