DIRIYAH, December 14, 2019

Daniil Medvedev and Fabio Fognini will compete in Saturday’s final of the inaugural Diriyah Tennis Cup presented by Saudi Aramco, the first professional tennis tournament held in Saudi-Arabia.

Medvedev defeated David Goffin of Belgium 6-3, 6-3 in the semi-finals. “It’s always a 50-50 match against David. It was a big match for me and always tough against him as he makes you work for every point and chases everything on court,” the top seed from Russia said after his dominant victory.

We have our first finalist: @fabiofogna 🏆✨ Let’s see who is going to be his opponent ❔❔ @Gael_Monfils @DiriyahSeason #DTC #fognini #monfils #diriyahtenniscup #diriyahseason #aramco #bepartofhistory #saudiarabia #tennis #semifinals pic.twitter.com/J1p59q2dc7

— Diriyah Tennis Cup (@DiriyahCup) December 13, 2019

Earlier on Friday, Fognini beat Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4.

“Gael and I play sometimes serious and sometimes funny and I think the crowd liked that,” Fognini said, quoted by the tournament’s website. “Tomorrow I have another chance to improve my game and hopefully I can continue in the final. Then I am totally ready for 2020. Of course, we are here because it is a new world of tennis and we want to help to show the people some tennis. We are eight of the best players and we really enjoy our time here.”

The winner of the final will receive $1 million in prize money, the runner-up will take away from the desert $500,000.

“It’s never easy to play Fabio, a tricky opponent,” Medvedev said ahead of the title match. “He played amazing today, hitting some amazing shots, he’s a really tough opponent. The main goal for me is to win the tournament. The fans really enjoyed the matches today and are getting into it and hopefully even more fans come tomorrow and we show them tennis for the very first time. Of course (the prize money) is in my mind – but most of the players don’t play for money, it’s more a bonus and we try to win tournaments.”