Medvedev makes strong start to US Open title bid

Russia's Daniil Medvedev beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 to advance to the second round of the US Open.

Published : Aug 31, 2021 11:34 IST , NEW YORK

Daniil Medvedev returns a shot against Richard Gasquet  during the first round of the US Open on Monday in New York.
Daniil Medvedev returns a shot against Richard Gasquet during the first round of the US Open on Monday in New York.
lightbox-info

Daniil Medvedev returns a shot against Richard Gasquet during the first round of the US Open on Monday in New York.

Russian second seed Daniil Medvedev stayed solid from the baseline against Frenchman Richard Gasquet to advance to the second round of the US Open with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 victory on Monday.

It was the 200th career win for the 25-year-old and his 160th on hard courts and the Russian showed why he is one of the top contenders for the title with a clinical display at Arthur Ashe Stadium in the final match of the opening day.

The 2019 US Open finalist, who also reached the title match of the Australian Open at the start of the year, broke Gasquet once in each of the first two sets before the veteran Frenchman seemed to start struggling physically.

READ : Andy Murray loses to Stefanos Tsitsipas in five-set thriller at US Open

Gasquet, 10 years older than his opponent, started to move gingerly in the third set in the hot and humid conditions at Flushing Meadows as Medvedev broke him three times to close out the match in under two hours.

"I saw a lot of matches today, I had all the day to watch and all the matches were tough physically," Medvedev said in his on-court interview.

"Talking about our match the score might seem easy but we played two hours and first two sets were high intensity. Third set I was actually not that good physically also. I'm happy that I didn't stay out here for five hours and I can be ready for the next match."

READ : Marin Cilic retires from US Open, first time in more than 800 matches

An off-balance pick-up lob from Medvedev in the 10th game of the first set brought the crowd to their feet before the Russian produced another immaculate lob against an advancing Gasquet to win the opening set with his first break.

Gasquet advanced to the net regularly against Medvedev, who has won 11 of his 12 singles titles on hard courts, but the Russian had the weapons to dominate from behind the baseline.

Medvedev won six games in a row in the third set and converted his third matchpoint with a forehand winner to set up a second round meeting against Germany's Dominik Koepfer.

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment