Novak Djokovic loses his first match of the year against Daniil Medvedev in Dubai

number one in world tennis Novak Djokovicsuffered the first defeat of the season when he fell with the Russian daniel medvedev for a double 6-4 in 1 hour, 35 minutes in one of the semifinals of the atp500 from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The Serbian, five times champion of the tournament (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2020), ended a streak of 20 consecutive victories that included the coronation of the australian open, his 22nd. Title of grand slamand the ATP 250 of Adelaide, in January, plus the ATP Finals from Turin in November. His previous defeat had been that same month against the Norwegian Rune Holger at the end of teachers 1000 from Paris.

Medvedevformer number one and seventh in the current ranking, had not defeated the Serb since the final of the US Open 2021 and with today’s victory he shortened the history of confrontations between the two to 5-9. The Russian will define the title with his compatriot andrei rublevwho in turn eliminated the German Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6 (9) in the other semifinal.

Medvedev has a 4-2 advantage in the record of matches played by the circuit atpbut in the last two crosses the victory remained Rublov (Cincinnati 2021 and Finals 2022).