World No. did not have to. 2 Daniil Medvedev struggled on Thursday to reach the third round of the Roland-Garros tournament against Serbian Laslo Djere, world 56th, whom he defeated 6-3, 6-4, 6- 3 in 2 hours 35 min.
The task could be more complicated in the next round for the 26-year-old Russian, who has little taste in clay and will face another Serb, Miomir Kecmanovic (31st), who scored against Alexander Bublik.
After winning the first two sets, Medvedev hung on to the third by an opponent with multiple winning shots, i.e., 39. But the Serb also made 68 unforced errors that allowed the Russian to take control of the game.
With a broken entry in the third set and hoping for a good service, Medvedev was never in real danger. He even ended the match with Djere’s serve, taking advantage of a double fault, then a direct fault from his opponent.
I’m not confident in this third run because I just break the lead. And in clay, the rest is nothingsaid the Russian, happy to come out in a difficult fight.
Last year, he reached the quarter-finals in Paris, where he passed the first round for the first time in five participations.
This year, for his sixth Roland-Garros, he came to the unknown after undergoing surgery to treat a hernia.
The US Open winner was runner-up in the last two Australian Open, where he was beaten by Novak Djokovic in 2021 and Rafael Nadal in January.
Other 2nd round results:
- Casper Ruud (NOR/no 8) defeated Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
- David Goffin (BEL) lost. Frances Tiafoe (USA/#24) 3-6, 7-6 (7/1), 6-2, 6-4
- Holger Rune (DEN) defeated Henri Laaksonen (SUI) 6-2, 6-3, 6-3
- Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB/no 28) defeated Alexander Bublik (KAZ) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-1
Source: Radio-Canada
