US Open 2019 Tennis Preview – Friday, September 6th at 4.00 pm
Russia’s Daniil Medvedev has not been the most popular player at the US Open 2019, after playing the part of the Flushing Meadows villain. But he will be breaking new ground on Friday when he goes into his first Grand Slam semi-final. He will be taking on Grigor Dimitrov who has produced the biggest shock of the draw so far, namely knocking out Roger Federer.
Daniil Medvedev v Grigor Dimitrov Winner Odds*
Daniil Medvedev at 8/15
Grigor Dimitrov 6/4
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on September 4th, 2019 at 11:29 pm)
Can Medvedev beat Dimitrov and reach first Grand Slam final?
23-year-old Russia Daniil Medvedev will be facing a pressure that he has not encountered before. This Friday encounter will be his first Grand Slam Final. He is on the up in the sport without a question and is already in the top five. In his third-round match against Feliciano Lopez, Medvedev was a bit spiky and even took on the crowd in his post-match interview. He said theire booing of him inspired his win in the match and to keep it coming.
The crowd turned against the Russian after he snatched a towel from a ball boy and tried, but failed to disguise a raising of his middle finger. In his fourth-round match he was getting at the crowd again. But in his victory over Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals, Medvedev was calm and didn’t engage even amid boos when he walked onto the court. He was humble and let his tennis do the talking, posting a 3-1 victory over Wawrinka.
No player on the ATP has won more matches this year than Medvedev, who reached the finals of the Citi Open and the Rogers Cup, before winning the Western & Southern Open in his three tournaments directly before the start of the US Open. He is heading for big things and the bookmakers have him at 8/15 odds-on to win this semi-final* (betting odds taken from bet365 on September 4th, 2019 at 11:29 pm).
Head to Head
The head to head between Medvedev and Dimitrov is 1-1. Those two meetings both happened in 2017, the first in the quarterfinals of Queen’s (won by Dimiintrov) and the other in Washington.
Can Dimitrov upset the odds against Medvedev?
Unseeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov will probably be tired, but full of confidence heading into this semi-final. That’s because of his five-set victory over Roger Federer earlier this week. Dimitrov had dropped the first set and the third set but somehow managed to show such mental toughness to not only stick in there but fight his way back. He cruised through the deciding set 6-2.
Dimitrov had never been past the fourth round before at the US Open so this is new territory for him as well. He has been to two previous Grand Slam semi-finals (Wimbledon 2014 and the Australian Open 2017) and he lost both of them. He is a player who hasn’t quite lived up to his potential. He was carrying no form whatsoever with him into the US Open 2019, winning just one of five matches played since Wimbledon. Realistically he probably never expected to find himself the final four. Now that he is, can he make the most of the opportunity?
Predictions
Medvedev is playing some mighty fine stuff at the moment and should have the edge over Dimitrov, who is a much bigger surprise semi-finalist. Because Medvedev has had to have heavy strapping because of a potential leg problem, we will still back him to win but at 3-1 in the set betting* (betting odds taken from bet365 on September 4th, 2019 at 11:29 pm).
