Daniil Medvedev vs. Rafael Nadal – Prediction – ATP London (UK) 21.11.2020

H2H: Medvedev v Nadal – comparison.

Though Daniil Medvedev is the better player on indoor hard courts and is on a fine run at the moment, facing Rafael Nadal in a big match is never easy.

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Daniil Medvedev probably still has nightmares of facing Rafael Nadal in the group stages of the ATP World Tour Finals during his debut campaign in 2019. After throwing away a set lead, the Russian squandered a 5-1 lead in the deciding set, including a match point, which eventually knocked him out of the tournament. This will be the pair’s first meeting since then, and this is a good opportunity for Daniil Medvedev to get his revenge as he seems to be in fine form at the moment. The Russian arrived in London with a lot of confidence and momentum on his side and has been flawless so far this week.

“The end [was] a very strange end of the match, no?. [It’s] true that [in] the end I was lucky and he [Daniil Medvedev] made a couple of mistakes to close the match. I know it’s a different story. He’s playing great. I think last year he was very tired mentally at the end of the season. I think this year is a different story,” said Rafael Nadal when speaking about their previous meeting ahead of Saturday’s clash.

Daniil Medvedev is the only unbeaten player in this edition of the ATP Tour Finals, and in fact, he is yet to drop a set this week, having scored comfortable straight-set wins over Alexander Zverev, Novak Djokovic, and Diego Schwartzman. Notably, five of the six sets that he has played have concluded at 6-3. With these three wins, world #4 Daniil Medvedev extended his winning streak on the main tour to eight matches, his best run since winning 12 matches in a row at Cincinnati Masters and the US Open last year.

Daniil Medvedev had played too many tough and grueling matches in the run-up to the ATP Tour Finals last year, which hurt his chances against top players in consecutive matches. Unlike in 2019, the 24-year-old seems to have hit the form right in time for the year-end championships this year as he won the biggest title of his career in Paris Masters earlier this month and reached the quarterfinal in Vienna last month. A win on Saturday would make Daniil Medvedev the first Russian to reach the finals of the ATP Tour Finals since 2009 when Nikolay Davydenko upset Roger Federer in the semifinal and defeated Juan Martin Del Potro in the finals to lift the trophy.

Rafael Nadal edges past the defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas in three sets in a must-win encounter on Thursday to confirm his semifinal berth in ATP Tour Finals. Earlier in this campaign, he got the better of the in-form Andrey Rublev before losing to Dominic Thiem in a closely contested match. Former world #1 Rafael Nadal has enjoyed a lot of success on the main tour over the years, but he is yet to win a title in the ATP Tour Finals, despite making nine appearances (excluding this campaign). In fact, this is only his first semifinal match in this tournament since 2015, when he could win only six games against his arch-rival Novak Djokovic.

“It’s true I never won [this tournament], but sometimes you play well, and you don’t win, no?. I am looking forward to playing against probably the player who is playing better the past couple of weeks, and I’m excited about that. Let’s see. [It’s] going to be [an] amazing challenge, and I hope to be ready for it,” said Rafael Nadal.

The likes of Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Alexander Zverev have been challenging Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in recent years but most often ends up being the second-best against Rafael Nadal, who holds a dominant H2H record against all those players (3-0 against Daniil Medvedev).

Match Info.