Medvedev Gets His Wish, Off To Winning Start In Madrid
Daniil Medvedev got his wish on Wednesday to win at least one match this week at the Mutua Madrid Open. The second-seeded Russian broke a six-match tour-level losing streak on clay with a hard-fought 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain in two hours and 13 minutes.
“I am happy with the win,” said Medvedev. “The first set wasn’t easy and I thought it was going to be where I had another 25 break points and I wouldn’t win. I finally played quite well and did well in the third set. I think Madrid is a little faster than other clay tournaments, so better for my game.”
Medvedev, who was playing his first match since losing to Roberto Bautista Agut on 31 March at the Miami Open presented by Itau, improved to an 18-3 match record in 2021 and will next challenge Chilean No. 16 seed Cristian Garin, who was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Dominik Koepfer of Germany.
Following an exchange of breaks midway through the first set, Davidovich Fokina clinched the 53-minute opener when Medvedev struck a backhand long. Medvedev broke to lead 3-1 in the second set, before Davidovich Fokina worked his way back and led 3-3, 40/15. From there, it was all Medvedev, who reduced his error count. The 25-year-old finished their first ATP Head2Head meeting with an ace, his 19th winner, and is now 5-0 in deciding set match this season.
[WATCH LIVE 1]Medvedev finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final and went on to capture his 10th ATP Tour title at the Open 13 in Marseille (d. Herbert) in March. He has a chance to rise to No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings if he captures the Madrid title, reaches at least the Internazionali BNL d’Italia semi-finals and other results go his way.