Rome [Italy], May 14 : Defending champion Daniil Medvedev had to dig deep to crush an intense performance from Hamad Medjedovic, claiming a Round of 16 spot in the Italian Open.
The second seed brushed off the upset bid from Medjedovic with a rock-solid third-set performance that earned him a 7-6(5), 2-6, 7-5 victory.
"I felt like I started the match well and then in a way it was only going downhill. My serve was not there, my shots were not aggressive enough when I needed to. Because many times I would like to play the rhythm I played, but I would also like from time to time to surprise my opponent with some good shots. Today I was not able to do it," the second seed said as quoted by ATP.
"At one moment in the match, I thought what I was doing would not be enough to win the match. So I'm happy that even by playing not my best I could win. Tomorrow I'm going to try to find my best tennis," he added.
After an up-and-down first two sets in which he committed ten double faults, Medvedev went into lockdown mode from the baseline, taking a 4-1 lead without committing an unforced error in the decider.
However, the Serbian, who had 41 winners and 66 unforced mistakes, found the range on his booming forehand to race back to 4-4 and establish a 0/30 gap in the ninth game.
Medvedev used his metronomic baseline game to reverse the tide once more, taking advantage of his opponent's backhand whenever possible. Cutting a restrained figure throughout the match, Medvedev maintained his cool approach to break in the last game, resisting an assault from the generally attack-minded Medjedovic to conclude the contest after two hours and fifty minutes.
He will next meet Tommy Paul, who beat Dominik Koepfer 6-4, 6-4 earlier on Monday.
Elsewhere, Sebastian Baez scored a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 upset against 10th seed Holger Rune.
The Argentine advanced to his first Masters 1000 fourth round after winning his tour-leading 17th clay court match of the season, which matches his Rome seed.
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