D. MEDVEDEV/T. Fritz
7-6, 6-3
THE MODERATOR: Well done, Daniil. Do you feel your game is getting better each round? It seemed that way today.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Thanks a lot. Not easy to say, but for sure serve was great today. Second set was much better than the first one, especially the beginning I managed to get a little bit in the rhythm, because first set, I mean, Taylor is a great player, so from baseline he didn't give me much space, was hitting the ball strong, making a lot of good points.
But in general, yeah, happy with my level. If I can continue play this way, and especially during the match raise my level, I can beat anybody.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. You were clutch on key moments like breakpoints, set points, tiebreak. Does that tell you a lot about where you are right now, your game?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I don't know why, but sometimes you have some tournaments where it's better than the other ones, if we can say like this. And Cincinnati was always, if I remember all the times except probably first two years I was here, I had many matches where, yeah, I mean, there are going to be a lot of matches where it's tight, and I always liked to, I don't know, save breakpoints here or save tough moments.
Today was one of these matches also, for sure. I mean, first set I don't know if it was three, four, two set points, I think three, and they were not easy. Some of them I think on the second serve, I mean, I hit an ace on the second serve at deuce, which is always a tricky thing to do.
Yeah, today everything worked out in the most important moments, and that's why I won.
Q. There was a quote, I don't know if you saw it, saying that 70% of earth is covered by water and 30% by Daniil Medvedev. What do you think of that? There was a point in the second set where you did great defense.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, it was amazing point, because even when I looked at it on my phone, the thing is that when I touched this ball I almost fall down. I wanted to get it so desperately that I almost fell down trying to get it.
Yeah, about Medvedev, just laughed with my friend, he was, like, Wow, I didn't know. One friend texted me on WhatsApp.
Yeah, definitely, I mean, the defense was amazing. It's not going to work out like this all the time, but the way I managed to make this lob was really great, and it's funny to see it then on Instagram or somewhere.
Q. Do you feel like you are being, I don't know, tested enough to get ready for next week with your play here?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, for sure. I mean, every Masters 1000 is so strong, because again, starting from the first round you play a top opponent. Even in Grand Slam, in a way, you can get two easier rounds where you are going to play somebody top 100 or coming from quallies even outside the 100, even if we know some crazy sensations or crazy runs, like, for example, Botic had last year, who was not in the top 100.
Here, starting from the first round, I had Botic who is 25 right now in the world, so sometimes first rounds, yeah, in Masters are super tough. Like I had Kyrgios in Montreal. Every match is a test, and so far I have been doing great here.
Usually the conditions here are quite similar to US Open, and when I do well here, I play good in US Open, so so far it's looking this way.
Q. Taylor Fritz has played a really good tournament so far. We haven't really had a dominant male American in a while. What is your opinion on Taylor and his play?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Me, every time I practice with Taylor, even if it was two years ago or this year, he's a great player. He has a potential and he showed it many, many times, especially of course in Indian Wells. I mean, getting the Masters 1000 title is really tough.
He has a potential to be top player. When we say "top player," you never know: ten Grand Slams, one Grand Slam, zero Grand Slam and World No. 1, 2, 3. He has the potential to be at the top of the top.
But then, yeah, it's not easy. Sometimes he's going to play somebody like me in the quarters and it's going to be a tight match. Today it didn't go his way, and that's how tennis is.
You need to continue pushing, continue playing well. Again, if he plays like today, he's going to win many more matches, he's going to go even higher in the rankings. I'm not sure what is his ranking exactly right now, but he has some time before the thousand points drop, so he has still time to grow his ranking.
So, yeah, I think he has the potential, but then we can never know.
Q. 13th, by the way.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: 13, he is? That's already strong, but he has the potential to be higher, for sure.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports