Tennis. "It's been a really long time": 15 months later, Medvedev returns to a final in Halle

Daniil Medvedev , former world No. 1 in 2022 and down to ^11th place in the ATP, had to battle for three hours on the grass in Halle (Germany) late Saturday afternoon against Alexander Zverev , world No. 3, to reach the final for the first time in 15 months.

After losing at the end of March 2024 at the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells against the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz , Daniil Medvedev is back one match away from a ^21st title on the ATP circuit, the last one dating back to mid-May 2023 on the clay courts of Rome in the Masters 1000.

"It's been a really long time since I've been to the final. I'm happy to be here, I beat an incredibly good player," Medvedev commented on the court, still out of breath a few minutes after the match.

For their ^20th duel between two players of the same generation (fourteen months apart), Medvedev (29 years old) and Zverev (28 years old) faced each other for the first time on grass, and engaged in a three-hour battle.

Medvedev took the lead in the first set tiebreak, leading 5-0 then 6-1 and closing on his third set point (7-3).

The 2021 US Open winner and two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2023 and 2024 broke Zverev early on but had a weaker run, a gap into which the German rushed to immediately break.

After saving three match points at 6-5 on his serve, Zverev led the tiebreak (6-0, then 7-1) to extend the match into a third set dominated by Medvedev, who broke (2-1) and held his service game (3-1), saving four break points.

"I would have much preferred to finish when I had match points in the second set, but I'm happy to have won. I hope that in the other semi-final, they will run a little bit, because I am tired," joked the world number 11.

Medvedev's wish was partly granted, as Kazakh Alexander Bublik, ranked ^45th in the world, took two hours (2h03) to defeat Karen Khachanov ( ^22nd ) in three sets 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, thanks to a consistently good serve (19 aces), concluding on his fourth match point.

Having defeated Jannik Sinner , world number 1 and defending champion in Halle, in the round of 16, Bublik has already won the Halle tournament in 2023 (one of his four titles with Montpellier in 2022 and 2024 and Antwerp in 2023), while Medvedev reached the final in 2022 in western Germany.