Nitto ATP Finals: Daniil Medvedev Suffers Tough Loss To Rafael Nadal

Rafel Nadal proved the class of player he is made of in the second-round against Daniil Medvedev, staging a remarkable comeback with a match point needed for the Russian to clinch victory and won in three sets, 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(4).

The Spaniard is the only player amongst the Big 3 - Federer (6) and Novak Djokovic (4) - who is yet to win a Nitto ATP Finals title and did not start well at the tournament as he lost to defending champion, Alexander Zverev in the opening round on Monday. Nonetheless, he needed to win the next match against Dominic Thiem to finish the season as world no. 1 for the fifth time. 

"Sorry for Daniil. It's a tough loss. He was playing much better than me in the third set," Nadal said. "It's one of these days, one out of 1,000, where you win. I know you have to breaks in front and you lose the first one." 

After playing through two sets, Medvedev opened the decider taking an early break for 3-0 lead after winning double break and extended it further for 1-5 lead. At this time, the second-seeded player got revamped and broke back to deny the Russian a match point with a backhand slice and held serve. 

It began to look like the 23-year-old's aggression has waned as Nadal won four straight games to level 5-5 and forced a tiebreak that he wrapped up with Medvedev hitting a backhand wide. 

The match was Medvedev's third meeting with Nadal who won all to lead by 3-0 in ATP FedEx series. Also, the Russian slacks by 2-0 in the Robin Group as the world no. 2 improved 1-1 in Andre Agassi Group.