Daniil Medvedev was defaulted from his China Open semi-final against Novak Djokovic after a ball he hit into the stands struck a spectator, with Djokovic leading 7-5, 5-3. Djokovic reaches his 146th tour-level final, where he meets Alex de Minaur, who advanced when Hubert Hurkacz retired injured.
Beijing, China: It was a semi-final that was heading one way and then ended in a moment nobody saw coming. Novak Djokovic was three points from beating Daniil Medvedev at the China Open when the match was taken out of both men’s hands.
Medvedev, trailing 7-5, 5-3, was defaulted on Monday after a ball he struck towards the crowd hit a fan. The result sends Djokovic into the final of an ATP 500 event he has made his own, and leaves the Russian with a very different kind of headline.
A grind that never loosened
Djokovic arrived in the last four on the back of his comeback win over top seed Alexander Zverev, a result that stretched his Beijing record to 32-0. Medvedev, who leads their head-to-head 10-5, was never going to make it easy.
The first set went to Djokovic 7-5, and the second followed a similar pattern. The most telling number was on the break-point count: Djokovic faced 18 break points in the match and saved 16 of them, repeatedly escaping when Medvedev appeared to have the advantage. By the time he led 5-3 and was serving, the finish line was in sight.
The ball that ended it
With Djokovic serving at 5-3 and 15-15 in the second set, a loose ball bounced off the wall behind Medvedev. He swung at it and sent it into the stands, where it hit a spectator in the face. The fan was helped from the arena and was reported to have been taken to hospital for treatment of an injury around the left eye.
The tournament officials defaulted Medvedev on the spot. Under the rules he forfeits the ranking points and prize money from the event. The incident carried an obvious echo for Djokovic himself, who was disqualified from the 2020 US Open after hitting a line judge with a ball.
Medvedev, the world No. 5, was quick to say it had not been deliberate. “Terribly sorry to the spectator, first of all. I’m trying to get in touch with him, if he wants it,” he said. “I tried to, like, just hit it anywhere, so it doesn’t go out from the court.”
Djokovic’s shocked reaction
Djokovic sounded as unsettled as anyone in the arena. “A bit of a shock, to be honest. Sorry for the person [who got hit]… I know exactly how he feels to be disqualified in a big match,” he said. He added that he had been close to finishing the job: “I was three points away from the win. It was a gruelling battle.”
The win lifts his record in Beijing to 33-0 and puts him into a 146th tour-level final. “There’s something about Beijing that keeps me going,” he said.
De Minaur waits in the final
Djokovic’s opponent in Tuesday’s final is Alex de Minaur, who reached the title match when Hubert Hurkacz retired with an apparent adductor injury while trailing 6-4, 3-2. De Minaur has lost three of his four meetings with Djokovic and has never beaten him in China.
A win on Tuesday would give Djokovic a 102nd career title and his first in almost a year.
Score: Novak Djokovic (SRB) bt Daniil Medvedev (RUS) 7-5, 5-3 (Medvedev defaulted) — China Open, Beijing, semi-final
Other semi-final: Alex de Minaur (AUS) bt Hubert Hurkacz (POL) 6-4, 3-2 (Hurkacz retired)
