“If I can continue to play at the level I’m playing now, I’ll have my chances to beat basically any opponent, and that gives you a chance to win tournaments,” Medvedev said. “Then you can always meet someone who plays well. For example, Raphael played a great match against me in Shanghai. Nikoloz played a great set against me here, but I was able to turn things around.”
The title, the 25th of his career, was his fourth this season, after Brisbane, Dubai and Hangzhou. That moves him ahead of Flavio Cobolli into fifth place in the race to Turin with 3,670 points. Medvedev, seeded 5, arrived in Almaty tired after losing to Rafael Jodar in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters 1000.
“I’ve had some really bright moments this year and it gives me a lot of hope that I can continue to build on that and try to raise my level a bit more,” he said. “So the goal is to improve, try to play well.”
“Vienna will be difficult”
His schedule leaves him little time to relax. Medvedev is due to play the ATP 500 in Vienna next week and warned the turnaround would be difficult.
“Look, I’m playing well, but Vienna will be difficult. It’s a long flight. This is Wednesday, not Thursday,” he said. “In a way, I feel good physically. I have no injuries so I will try my best. Two tournaments left and then hopefully in Turin. So just one last push before I rest.”
He said he felt fresh in the final, helped by a short semi-final when Alexander Bublik retired with a knee injury after one set. “Sasha’s injury in the semi-final gave me an extra boost in the final, and I’m glad I finally did it,” Medvedev said. “I had my chances in the first set. I got a little unlucky. I knew I would probably have my chances to turn the game around and it wasn’t easy.”
Medvedev won the Vienna title in 2022 and reached the final the following year as the defending champion. He is the No.3 seed this time around and opens on Wednesday against Spain’s Daniel Merida, who won the Umag title as world No.82 this season and reached the final in Bucharest as a qualifier. The draw sees No. 8 Jakub Mensik in the quarterfinals and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals, with top seed Alexander Zverev in the other half. A semifinal against Alcaraz will be the belief that he can “beat basically any opponent.”
