Sydney, Jan. 2 (BNA): Russia’s Daniil Medvedev opened the 2022 season with a stunning defeat at the hands of Frenchman Ugo Humbert after a fierce three-hour battle at the steamy Ken Roswell Arena in the ATP Cup on Sunday.
The world number two was expected to seal a Group B tie for Russia after Roman Sviulin beat Arthur Rinderknik in the opening singles match, but Humbert’s 6-7 (5) 7-5 7-6 (2) win kept France alive at 1. Reuters 1 go into doubles.
However, Medvedev changed his shirt and returned to the field with Sviulin to tie the defending champion with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Fabrice Martin and Edward Roger Vaslin.
“I feel very tight physically, that’s all I can say,” Medvedev laughed.
That was no surprise after his gigantic rivalry with Humbert, who was in inspirational form and clung tenaciously whenever it looked like Medvedev might walk away from him.
Medvedev won the first set in a tiebreak but had to go a long way after giving up his 3-0 lead to concede the second set to the 35th seed.
The tired Russian’s patience seemed to run out in the final tiebreak and Humbert scored the biggest win of his career on his second point of the match with a powerful backhand.
“I don’t feel good now but I’m very happy,” Humbert laughed. “It was a great match.”
Earlier, Canadian Denis Shapovalov withdrew late in his singles match against American John Isner in another early Sunday match in the $10 million men’s tag team tournament.
The world number 14 has been forced into isolation in his hotel room after testing positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Sydney.
“I didn’t feel physically ready yet, so we did what was best for the team,” said Shapovalov, who later took to the field to play the duo with Felix Auger-Aliassime.
But that was dead rubber, as Isner beat Shapovalov’s substitute Brayden Schnur before crushing Taylor Fritz Auger-Aliassime to give the United States a 2-0 lead in the third set match.
Isner and Fritz also won doubles to put their sparkle 3-0 on their country’s first ATP Cup victory.
Hosts Australia suffered a heavy blow ahead of their opening Group B clash with Italy later on Sunday when James Duckworth was forced to retire with a groin problem. Germany will meet Britain in Group C the following evening.
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