After a pair of strong opening wins to start out his 2022 Roland Garros marketing campaign, Daniil Medvedev hit his stride towards Miomir Kecmanovic within the third spherical on Saturday afternoon.
The second seed produced a high-class show to ease previous the World No. 31 Kecmanovic on the clay-court Grand Slam, working out a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 winner in Paris.
Medvedev comfortably beat Facundo Bagnis and Laslo Djere in straight units in his opening two rounds within the French capital. The 26-year-old discovered a unique degree to his recreation in overcoming the problem of Kecmanovic, nevertheless, an indication that the 13-time tour-level titlist is nearing his finest after lacking a lot of the European clay season on account of a hernia process.
Medvedev was taking up one of many in-form gamers on the ATP Tour within the 22-year-old Serbian, however that didn’t appear to have an effect on the World No. 2 as he produced a chic show that includes clear baseline hitting, exactly positioned drop pictures and authoritative internet protection to ease to a one-hour, 48-minute victory.
Medvedev was dialled in from the beginning on Courtroom Suzanne Lenglen, placing his groundstrokes with function in a commanding first set efficiency. He broke Kecmanovic twice because the Serb struggled to settle, significantly on his forehand facet.
The second seed’s momentum confirmed no signal of slowing into the second set. He broke Kecmanovic instantly to edge forward, and though the Serb discovered some rhythm on serve to reel off three consecutive holds to like and exert some stress on his opponent, Medvedev had all of the solutions.
The World No. 2 held agency to seal the second set and ran away with proceedings within the third as he maintained a excessive degree till the tip to seal an announcement win on the clay. His fourth-round opponent will likely be dwelling favorite Gilles Simon or twentieth seed Marin Cilic.
Kecmanovic has loved a powerful 2022 season and got here into his first tour-level assembly with Medvedev proudly owning a 25-11 match file for the 12 months, however the Serb was given few possibilities to make an influence towards a barrage of fresh hitting from his opponent. Medvedev struck 42 winners to Kecmanovic’s 24, breaking the Serb 5 occasions and saving every of the 2 break factors he confronted.
After dropping his first 4 fundamental draw matches at Roland Garros from 2017 to 2020, Medvedev is now a win away from reaching a second consecutive quarter-final within the French capital. Ought to he make it to subsequent week’s last at Roland Garros, he’ll return to No. 1 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on 13 June.
Djokovic vs Medvedev vs Zverev: The 3-Way Roland Garros Battle For World No. 1
