Daniil Medvedev has historically not been the best on clay, but the World No. 2 has made the first three rounds of the French Open look quite easy. Medvedev is through to the round of 16 after another impressive straight-sets win over Miomir Kecmanovic.
Similarly, No. 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas finally got himself a straightforward victory after two challenging matches to start the tournament.
Meanwhile, another veteran Frenchman has bid farewell to his home Grand Slam following a French Open defeat.
Read on below as SBOTOP provides all the latest news and updates from Paris.
Medvedev moves on to round of 16 after another dominant win
Daniil Medvedev continued his fine form thus far in the French Open as he easily beat Miomir Kecmanovic, 6-2 6-4 6-2, to reach the round of 16.
The World No. 2 in the ATP Rankings was fantastic in just about every facet of the game. He put 71 per cent of first serves in play and won 77 per cent of first serve points. He also broke his opponent five times and also scored 42 winners.
Medvedev, who had lost his first clay-court match in Geneva after returning from hernia surgery, has not been overly surprised by his early success in Paris.
“Coming here, of course not easy after losing the first round [in Geneva], but I felt on practice that there is something that is working well,” Medvedev said. “Just need to continue playing a lot of balls and working physically.
“Here before the tournament I really felt good, great, made a lot of physical work, played a lot of sets on the high intensity. So, I’m not that surprised, but to be honest, every time I play really good on clay I’m a little bit surprised, so today I was surprised.”
Medvedev will move on to the round of 16, where he will face Marin Cilic. Medvedev is a perfect 3-0 in his previous matches against the Croatian, although this will be their first match on clay.
Tsitsipas strolls to fourth round with straight-sets win
World No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas also made short work of his third-round opponent, Mikael Ymer, as he won 6-2 6-2 6-1 to make the French Open fourth round for the fourth year in a row.
Tsitsipas had struggled in his first two matches; he was surprisingly taken to five sets in the first round by Lorenzo Musetti, and then played four sets (with three tiebreakers) against Zdenek Kolar in the second round.
But the Greek star finally got in the groove with a truly dominant performance against Ymer. Tsitsipas won an incredible 46 of 56 total service points and converted 7 of 12 break points.
Tsitsipas credited the change in time compared to his first two matches for his renewed confidence against Ymer.
“I played a bit later in the [previous] two matches,” said Tsitsipas. “There wasn’t much sun, the conditions seemed a bit drier and colder. I saw it differently today compared to the other two days for sure. I felt much more free with my ball, was able to create a little bit more and find angles, and really push a lot with my ball. It helped a lot mentally, being aware of the next shot, having that confidence.”
Tsitispas will take on Danish teenager Holger Rune, who defied the French Open 2022 odds by beating No. 14 seed Denis Shapovalov in the first round and has yet to drop a set in three matches, in the round of 16.
Gilles Simon says goodbye to French Open after loss
Days after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga called time on his professional tennis career at Roland Garros, another veteran French player has played his final match at the French Open.
This time, it was 37-year-old Gilles Simon, who said goodbye to his home Grand Slam in a straight-sets defeat to Marin Cilic.
The 37-year-old Simon, who is set to retire at the end of the season, had delivered one of the shocks of the first round when he defeated No. 16 seed Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 1-6, 6-4. He then ousted American Steve Johnson in straight sets in the second round.
However, the Frenchman could hardly create any French Open 2022 highlights against Cilic, who had an overwhelming 42-7 edge in terms of winners en route to a dominant 6-0 6-3 6-2 win. But Simon was still in good spirits as he said his goodbye to the French Open.
“In the end, it’s not a big problem,” said Simon. “Of course I would like to—would have been great to play a fantastic match with him, as we played hopefully in the past, to enjoy even more the atmosphere and this last experience. But overall, I just feel really lucky that I had the chance to play three matches here.”
Simon won 14 singles titles over his 20-year pro career and rose to as high as No. 6 in the ATP Tour rankings.
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