Medvedev outlasts Tiafoe to advance

MELBOURNE: Fourth seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia held his nerve in a war of attrition against American Frances Tiafoe to register a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory in the first round of the Australian Open on Tuesday.

American great John Mcenroe recently tipped Medvedev as the man most likely to break the Grand Slam stranglehold of Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer at Melbourne Park after a season featuring four titles and a Tour-leading 59 match wins.

Medvedev, a US Open finalist last year, arrived here in red-hot form, winning all his singles matches at the inaugural ATP Cup before a three-set defeat to seven-time Australian Open champion Djokovic in the semifinal.

He broke Tiafoe’s serve three times to breeze through the opening set, but the American came roaring back to level the match in the second, displaying a never-say-die attitude in front of an appreciative Rod Laver Arena crowd. “He’s a tough first round. Frances is really a great player,” Medvedev said. “Knew it’s not going to be easy. But happy with the win because that’s most important. First round of a Slam, never easy.

“Sometimes the most important is to really not show some crazy level or crazy shots, but just to win the match, get into the tournament. Was a tough match against Frances, but happy to win it in four sets without playing five hours.”

World No.50 Tiafoe had reached the quarter-final here in 2019 and showed why, matching his higher-ranked opponent in the duels both from the baseline and at the net.

In the third set, Medvedev broke the American after a marathon second game and then jumped to a 3-0 lead after saving three breakpoints for a hold.