ATP World Tour Finals 2021 Results: Medvedev vs. Zverev Final Set After Semis

No. 2 Daniil Medvedev and No. 3 Alexander Zverev earned their spots in the final match of the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy, on Saturday.

Medvedev cruised to a straight-set win over No. 8 Christian Ruud, while Zverev went the distance with world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and took down the five-time winner of the ATP Finals.

When Medvedev and Zverev meet Sunday, it will represent a clash between winners of the ATP Finals in two of the past three years.

Here is a rundown of Saturday's semifinal scores at the ATP Finals and further analysis regarding how both matches played out.

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ATP Finals Saturday Semifinal Results

(2) Daniil Medvedev def. (8) Christian Ruud; 6-4, 6-2

(3) Alexander Zverev def. (1) Novak Djokovic; 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3

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ATP Finals Saturday Semifinal Recap

While 2021 has already been the best year of Medvedev's career, he has a chance to put an exclamation point on it after beating Ruud 6-4, 6-2 in Saturday's semifinal.

The No. 2-ranked player in the world has been on a tear over the past few months, as he upset Djokovic in the finals of the U.S. Open for his first career major title and followed it up by going undefeated in the ATP Finals group stage.

Ruud somewhat surprisingly reached the semifinals despite being the lowest-seeded player in the field at the start of the tournament, but he was no match for the 25-year-old Russian in a straight-set loss.

Despite all the high-level tennis he has played this year, Medvedev looked spry Saturday, using his quickness to overwhelm Ruud:

After earning a break in the opening set and beating Ruud 6-4, it seemed as though closing him out in the second was a mere formality.

Medvedev did exactly that in short order and celebrated his second consecutive trip to the final match of the ATP Finals:

Per ATPTour.com, Medvedev said the following regarding his performance Saturday and throughout the tournament during his on-court interview after the match:

"I think all the matches were a great level. Different opponents and different styles. I managed to win all the matches. It was not an easy match [today]. When you are in the final you can't complain, so I am just looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully I can have my best match."

Medvedev's big breakthrough occurred last year when he beat Dominic Thiem to win the ATP Finals for the first time in his career, and based on how well he is playing, he has a strong chance to become only the 10th player in ATP history to win the tournament multiple times.

While Medvedev needed just under an hour and 20 minutes to take down Ruud, the second semifinal between Djokovic and Zverev was much more tightly contested.

The first set was essentially a stalemate and featured some remarkably long rallies, including this one with Djoker leading 5-4:

Zverev managed to hold serve, however, and forced a tiebreak that was ultimately won 7-4 by the German, putting Djokovic on the brink of elimination.

While Zverev battled hard in his attempt to win the match in straight sets, Djokovic was finally able to put him away on his fifth set point while on serve, taking the set 6-4 and forcing a decisive third set.

All of the momentum was clearly on Nole's side after he took the second set, but Zverev showed some mettle by securing an early break and racing out to a 4-1 lead.

Trailing 4-2, Djokovic staved off a pair of game points and nearly managed to break Zverev, but the 24-year-old dug in his heels, won the game and moved to within one game of the final.

Following a hold of serve by Djokovic, Zverev managed to seal the deal, setting off a huge celebration:

The win marked the second time in four years that Zverev upset Djokovic at the ATP Finals, as he beat Djoker to win the tournament back in 2018.

While Zverev is still in search of his first major title, he won gold at the 2021 Summer Olympics, and like Medvedev, he now has a chance to become a two-time winner of the ATP Finals.