Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner.
Daniil Medvedev has conceded it was difficult to try and challenge Jannik Sinner while grappling with a shoulder injury in his Shanghai Masters loss.
World No 5 and fifth seed Medvedev was beaten 6-1, 6-4 by the world No 1 in their Shanghai quarter-final clash on Thursday, with Sinner now facing Tomas Machac in the last four.
It was evident early on that Medvedev, the 2019 champion in Shanghai, was struggling with his serve and appeared to clutch his shoulder regularly.
Speaking after his defeat, the former world No 1 revealed that he first felt an issue in his fourth round match against 10th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, which he had won in straight sets.
And he admitted that the issue may have cost him any chance of victory, with Medvedev unable to have too much impact on Sinner’s service games.
“Unfortunately, I had shoulder pain, which I didn’t expect,” said the Russian.
“It started yesterday during the match, but I thought it was nothing, and I still think, well, I hope it’s nothing serious, I will have to undergo tests tomorrow.
“It didn’t allow me to serve as I wanted, and with Jannik, the serve is crucial because he is a great server now, it’s hard to break him, so you need to serve well, and without the serve, it’s difficult.
“When you’re in pain, your energy is not the same. So in the second set, I tried to increase my energy, and that helped me a bit, but still, without the serve, it’s hard to beat Jannik, and that’s what happened.”
Sinner added: “It was a great match for my team. We get to know each other a little better every time we face off.
“Today, I felt he had some shoulder issues, and everyone could see it, so he didn’t play at his best level. These things can happen.”
Defeat for Medvedev continues an unfortunate drop-off in his head-to-head against Sinner, who is now guaranteed to finish the season as the year-end world No 1.
The Russian dominated the early meetings between the two and led the head-to-head 6-0 as recently as a year ago before Sinner picked up his first victory in the 2023 China Open final.
The Italian has now won seven of their last eight meetings to level their rivalry at 7-7, winning their Australian Open final from two sets down and also prevailing in four sets in their US Open quarter-final.
Medvedev’s only win in their last eight matches came in the last eight of Wimbledon, where he won in five sets.
