Hellooo!

Watched the Brisbane International final between Daniil Medvedev and Brandon Nakashima, and I keep thinking the 7-6, 6-2 scoreline doesn’t fully capture how competitive the match actually was.

Medvedev won the title in straight sets, yes. But especially in the first set, there were long baseline exchanges, several extended service games, and moments where Nakashima was right there, pushing rallies and testing Medvedev’s patience. A few points here or there, and that opening set could easily have gone the other way.

Once Medvedev dominated the tiebreak, the second set score looks more comfortable on paper. Still, it felt like a match decided by mental control and experience, not pure domination. Medvedev stayed solid, absorbed pressure, and raised his level at the exact moments that mattered.

For me, this kind of final raises an interesting question: Do we sometimes rely too much on the scoreline to judge how close a match really was? Because this didn’t feel like a walkover it felt like a match where one player simply handled the key moments better.

Curious to hear other views. Did you see this as a routine win, or a tighter contest disguised by the score?