It is a rematch of last week at the Vienna Open as Daniil Medvedev meets Kevin Anderson in the second round of the 2020 Paris Masters on Wednesday, November 4th 2020. Will Medvedev get his revenge, or will Anderson be able to cause another upset here?
Kevin Anderson was playing superb tennis last week in Vienna, reaching the semifinals and beating Daniil Medvedev and Pablo Carreno Busta along the way. Anderson however lost all his momentum in the semifinals where he retired when down 6-3/4-1 against the eventual champion Andrey Rublev. Anderson had a knee injury which he decided to prevent hurting further by retiring. Anderson has come to Paris now and he has won his first match due to his opponent retiring early in the first set. I expect Anderson not to be at his best as he was coming into the semifinal, and he will have to ensure his body is up for the challenge.
Daniil Medvedev is a player who I am afraid will drop out of the ATP Top 10 rankings if he continues to play like this for the next year. Medvedev cannot seem to win matches in a row and he has been very underwhelming compared to how incredible he was for most of last year. Medvedev will now know he has to get his game together if he is going to go anywhere here in Paris or even in London at the ATP Finals in two weeks time. Will Medvedev bounce back?
This is going to be the second meeting between both players, with their first meeting coming last week at the Vienna Open where Kevin Anderson won the match in straight sets. Medvedev walked into that match being the heavy favourite but did not perform. He began sluggishly and lost his serve easily, in the second set, Medvedev was in control, but he let his inability to be patient from letting him win the set. I expect Anderson to put up another strong fight here, however, his injury issues concern me. I believe Medvedev is the overall better player, and if he applies himself, he should win this and get revenge.