Wimbledon: Medvedev needs four sets to beat Muller and reach third round

Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No 5 seed, edged out Frenchman Alexandre Muller 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-4, 7-5 to reach the third round of Wimbledon at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London on Wednesday afternoon.

It was a rocky start to the match for the defending semi-finalist, with Medvedev clearly frustrated as he lost in a tiebreak.

So much so, that the Russian sat down a point early.

“I went a little crazy. I thought the set was gone,” explained Medvedev. 

“I heard the referee talking to me. You know, sometimes when you’re getting crazy, like, ‘Calm down or something.’ At one moment I start hearing, ‘Daniil, it’s 6-3, 6-3.’ I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ Then I see the score.

“Don’t know if it ever happened to me before. Thought it was pretty funny. I thought in my head, Okay, maybe that’s my chance, second chance to win it. Then I lost the point, so…”

Medvedev did redeem himself the next set though, winning a second-set tiebreak after falling behind 3-0 initially.

Medvedev, ranked No 5, will face the winner of the match between Chinese Zhizhen Zhang, the No 32 seed, and German Jan-Lennard Struff next.

The Russian won against American Aleksandar Kovacevic (6-3, 6-4, 6-2) in the first round.

In the previous round of the tournament, Muller, ranked No 102, beat qualifier Hugo Gaston (6-4, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5)).

Wimbledon (Grand Slam), other second-round matches (All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, grass, GBP 50,000,000):

• Carlos Alcaraz (3) beat Aleksandar Vukic: 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-2
• Ugo Humbert (16) beat Botic van de Zandschulp: 7-6 (9), 6-1, 6-3
• Brandon Nakashima beat Jordan Thompson: 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
• Frances Tiafoe (29) beat Borna Coric: 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-3
• Fabio Fognini beat Casper Ruud (8): 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (1), 6-3
• Marcos Giron vs. Alexander Zverev
• Jack Draper vs. Cameron Norrie
• Jacob Fearnley vs. Novak Djokovic
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Alexei Popyrin
• Quentin Halys vs. Karen Khachanov
• Holger Rune vs. Thiago Seyboth Wild
• Jaume Munar vs. Alex De Minaur
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Arthur Fils
• Emil Ruusuvuori vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard vs. Yoshihito Nishioka
• Luciano Darderi vs. Lorenzo Musetti
• Francisco Comesana vs. Adam Walton
• Stan Wawrinka vs. Gael Monfils
• Lloyd Harris vs. Ben Shelton
• Denis Shapovalov vs. Daniel Altmaier
• Grigor Dimitrov vs. Juncheng Shang
• Zhizhen Zhang vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
• Jannik Sinner vs. Matteo Berrettini
• Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Tommy Paul vs. Otto Virtanen
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Roberto Bautista Agut
• Arthur Cazaux vs. Alexander Bublik