Medvedev makes quick work of Gasquet to wrap up first day at US Open
Daniil Medvedev defeats Richard Gasquet in straight sets at the US Open on Monday night — or Tuesday morning, to be exact. Dominik Koepfer is next up for the Russian.
It took a while for the opening night session at the 2021 US Open to get underway, mainly because the Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Andy Murray match lasted four hours and 49 minutes.
Forced to play late on Monday night and early on Tuesday morning, Daniil Medvedev did not want to waste any time in his first-round contest against Richard Gasquet. And he didn’t. The world No.2 crushed Gasquet 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 in one hour and 57 minutes to get off the court right around 1:00 am local time.
Gasquet survived several tough service games to impressive battle his way into a 4-4 deadlock in the opening set. However, once Medvedev got the crucial break at 5-4, it was one-way traffic the rest of the way. The 35-year-old Frenchman made the second set somewhat interesting, as well, but he had nothing left physically for the third. Gasquet had also struggled physically in the Winston-Salem quarter-finals last Thursday.
Medvedev wrapped things up in style with three consecutive blistering service returns.
“The score might seem easy but the first two sets were high intensity,” the No.2 seed assessed. “I’m happy that I didn’t stay out here for five hours and I can be ready for the next match.”
Up next for Medvedev is Dominik Koepfer, whom the Russian defeated in four sets on his way to the 2019 US Open final.
