New York, September 1 (BNA): World number one Daniil Medvedev maintained his strong start in defending his US Open title on Wednesday, sending Frenchman Arthur Rinderknik 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium to finish third. circular.
After an inconsistent run with Flushing Meadows, Medvedev gained momentum with a straight-set victory over Stefan Kozlov in the first round on Monday and resumed where he left off against Renderknik, Reuters reported.
“Overall I’m happy with my level in the third set,” Medvedev told reporters. “At the end of the match things were getting better.
“At the same time, winning is the most important. Try to get out as soon as possible even if it’s late. Looking forward to the next round.”
Medvedev frustrated Rinderknech with his flawless shot and pounced on the Frenchman’s serve to keep him pinned to the baseline, saving all three break points he faced while dominating the competition from the start.
The Russian capitalized on several non-force errors from Rinderknech to easily seal the opening set and although he met more resistance than the world number 58 in the second set, he managed to break through and prevent the tiebreaker.
Medvedev dictated play with penetrating groundstrokes and took a decisive break in the third set with match five, before racing for victory in two hours and 11 minutes past midnight in New York.
“It’s not easy to play when you start at 10 pm,” said Medvedev, who started his match after Serena Williams beat Annette Kontaveit in three sets.
“I had some experience, so I was ready. I tried to find a way to play my best tennis. That’s definitely what happened in the first set.”
“Arthur was a little slow, he made some double mistakes and some unintentional mistakes. Then I managed to keep the momentum going.”
Medvedev, who won his first Grand Slam title a year ago, has won 20 of his last 22 matches in this year’s Grand Slam final.
The 26-year-old is striving to become the first men’s player to win back-to-back US Open titles since Roger Federer won the tournament every year between 2004 and 2008.
Medvedev awaits in the third round Wu Yiping, who became the first Chinese man to reach the third round at Flushing Meadows after beating fellow Portuguese qualifier Nuno Burgess 6-7 (3) 7-6 (4) 4-6 6- 4 6-4 .
“He seems to be playing great,” Medvedev said of Wu. “I’m expecting a tough match and I’ll be at my best.”