Washington (Reuters)
Daniil Medvedev overcame a mid-match ankle injury to beat Germany’s Alexander Zverev 6-7(4) 7-6 7-5 to advance to the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells Tennis Championships, after extending his winning streak to 17 in a row.
The Russian fifth seed’s campaign appeared to be over when he collapsed to the ground with what appeared to be a serious ankle injury.
After completing the match, and reaching the quarter-finals in Indian Wells for the first time, he said he expected to feel a lot of pain and was likely to undergo a scan to determine the extent of the damage.
Medvedev, who won three consecutive tournaments in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai, said, “Now, when the adrenaline is gone, and my body calms down, the pain will be severe, and I will probably undergo an examination, to see what happened and if I can continue playing.”
And while he was behind by a group with the serve in the sixth game, the score 3-2, Medvedev suffered a sprained ankle, trying to return the ball, and he seemed to be in pain as Zverev, the physiotherapist and the tournament supervisors rushed towards him.
After returning to his seat, the physiotherapist tightly taped Medvedev’s ankle and then limped back onto the court but forced a second-set tiebreak, which he won 7-5 to push the match into a third.
Medvedev, 27, said: “When my ankle sprained, I thought I would be able to stand without problems, then the pain started to increase very quickly and I said to myself: This is not a good sign.”
He added, “I felt that I had not been cut, but I thought that one of the ligaments might have been slightly injured, so I thought I was not able to play.”
He pointed out that the movement seemed easier after the physiotherapist tied his ankle.
Medvedev managed to break his opponent’s serve early to advance 2-1 in the third set, but he lost his serve when he was serving to decide the match in the tenth game.
But the German player committed a double fault, to give his opponent another break, as a result of which Medvedev advanced 6-5, and Medvedev did not waste the opportunity and decided the match, which lasted three hours and 15 minutes.
Medvedev said he plans to tie his ankle and use painkillers when he faces Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the quarter-finals.
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