Daniil Denies Wawrinka

It seems Daniil had a plan, and the plan was to swing for the fences and play fearless tennis right up until he was two match points up at 40-15 in the fourth set.   That was the only time one could sense a little hesitation and nerves in his shots but he overcame that with an ace at deuce and sealed the match in his favor on the next point.

Wawrinka had already given up on the match after being broken at 4-1 in the fourth set and played a listless game on his serve to go down 5-1 with one unforced error after another.

The match was a classic case of whack every ball that you can and see if it works.  And this time it did work, and Daniil Medvedev caused a major upset on his Wimbledon debut.

Medvedev played most points as if his life depended on it and scrambled across the court to make unreachable gets and pushed himself throughout while keeping his intensity levels high.  Wawrinka did not do much wrong except for giving up at 4-1 in the fourth set, perhaps that’s what separates Rafa, Novak and Roger from Wawrinka and Murray.  The big three never give up until the last point is over.

In the end Medvedev won 121 total points to Wawrinka’s 98, had 42 winners to Wawrinka’s 31 and converted 5 of his 11 break point opportunities whereas Wawrinka converted 2 of 6.

Medvedev now gets to play Bemelmans, of Belgium, who beat Tommy Haas in four sets earlier today.