The ATP and WTA Rogers Cup tournaments for 2021 have finally concluded, with two Olympians in Daniil Medvedev and Camila Giorgi crowned as the men’s and women’s champions, respectively.
Both Medvedev and Giorgi fell in the quarter-finals in Tokyo, but they went all the way in Canada. Medvedev took down American Reilly Opelka, while Giorgi defeated world No. 6 Karolina Pliskova for the second time in the space of a month to claim the biggest title of her career to date.
Read on below as SBOTOP recaps the men’s and women’s Rogers Cup finals.
Daniil Medvedev def. Reilly Opelka (6-4, 6-3)
World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev comfortably defeated Reilly Opelka in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, to lift the 2021 Rogers Cup title.
The tournament’s top seed became the first Russian champion in the competition since Marat Safin in 2000.
Medvedev, who was coming off a somewhat disappointing tournament in the Tokyo Olympics where he was knocked out in the quarter-finals, had taken care of another American in John Isner in the semi-finals, 6-2, 6-2, thanks in large part to his strong service game. He put 73 per cent of his first serves in play, won 90 per cent of his first serve points, and also smashed in 11 aces.
However, Medvedev’s serve was in danger of being broken in the fourth game of the opening set as Opelka went 0/40 ahead. But Medvedev went on a terrific comeback, making five straight first serves to hold.
Opelka was left to rue his missed opportunity when Medvedev broke the American’s serve in the very next game thanks to a brilliant backhand down the line to take a 3-2 lead. That break would prove decisive as Medvedev went on to serve out the first set in just 38 minutes.
The second set played out much the same way, with Medvedev soaking up pressure from behind the baseline, which led to Opelka miscues. Medvedev got another break of serve to gain control of the set.
Opelka had his chance to break back at 3-2, but he pushed a drop shot wide. Medvedev would not give the American another opening again as he dominated the longer rallies to close out the match with relative ease.
Medvedev’s service game was not quite on point as he only put 50 per cent of his first serves in play and also committed five double faults. But thanks to his strong second serve he still won an impressive 39 out of 52 service points.
Camila Giorgi def. Karolina Pliskova (6-3, 7-5)
Camila Giorgi defied the Rogers Cup 2021 betting odds as she took care of No. 4 seed Karolina Pliskova in straight sets to win her first career 1000-level title.
This is only the Italian’s third singles title of her career and her first since 2018.
The unseeded Giorgi had a string of impressive Rogers Cup 2021 results as she defeated the likes of Elise Mertens, Petra Kvitova, and Coco Gauff en route to the final. And despite being the significant underdog, Giorgi came into the final against the Czech with a lot of confidence.
After going just 1-5 in her first six matches against Pliskova, she had defeated the Czech in both of their meetings this year, the most recent of which was their third-round meeting in the Tokyo Olympics. Giorgi eventually fell in the quarter-finals to bronze medallist Elina Svitolina.
The two ladies split the first six games of the opening set, with both evading dangerous break-point danger. However, it was Giorgi who got the crucial first break after a five-deuce duel and the Italian went on to claim the first set.
Giorgi then looked well in command of the second set as she went 3-1 up thanks to Pliskova’s unforced errors. But the Italian handed the break straight back with back-to-back double faults of her own.
However, Giorgi regrouped quickly to prevent Pliskova from taking back the momentum. The Italian held her serve in a crucial game to go up 5-4 thanks to two service winners and two aces. Pliskova then made more unforced errors in the crucial game to give the match to Giorgi.
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