After a commanding victory in the first round of the 2023 Vienna Open, Daniil Medvedev has paved the way for a potentially thrilling second-round encounter with the in-form Grigor Dimitrov.
Medvedev dismantled world No 38 Arthur Fils 6-4, 6-2 in the opening round of the ATP 500 tournament in Vienna on Wednesday
While the first set was fairly close, Medvedev lost just two points in four service games and won 14 points on the Frenchman’s serve as he made his opponent work hard to stay competitive. The world No 3 converted his only break point in the set with Fils serving at 3-3, 30-40 to take full control of the contest.
The top seed then struck again on the 19-year-old’s serve in the opening game of the second set to quieten the Frenchman’s hopes. He broke again to go 4-1 ahead, before serving out for a routine victory over last week’s Antwerp runner-up at the first time of asking.
Medvedev made 76% of his first serves, hit four aces, and won a mammoth 90% of the points on his first delivery, as well as a stellar 80% behind his second serve. He struck 16 winners and just eight unforced errors, as recorded by Tennis TV, in an extremely clean display.
Speaking on Prime Video’s coverage following the first round encounter, renowned commentator and former ATP pro Robbie Koenig marvelled at Medvedev’s display.
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“Only lost five points on serve. Couple that with the returning – masterclass. That was beautiful beyond compare. (On the match statistics) What a scorecard for Daniil,” assessed the South African.
Medvedev will take on Dimitrov in the second round in Austria on Thursday in what could be one of the matches of the tournament. Dimitrov earned an impressive and routine 6-3, 6-4 victory over world No 22 Lorenzo Musetti in his opening round match on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old Russian leads the head-to-head series between the pair 5-2 and has won the last two matches convincingly, including a semi-final matchup at the 2022 Vienna Open.
Dimitrov, though, is arguably a different player than in those meetings and is playing the best tennis of his career since his excellent 2017 season – which he ended as world No 3.
The world No 17 holds a strong 36-19 record in 2023 and made the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters earlier this month, losing in two tight sets to Andrey Rublev. The 32-year-old Bulgarian downed world No 2 Carlos Alcaraz with a stunning display during his run in Shanghai.
daniil Medvedev is the defending champion in Vienna, having beaten Denis Shapovalov in last year’s final.
