Australian Open: Medvedev survives difficult first-round test

Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No 3 seed, reached the second round of the Australian Open when French qualifier Terence Atmane retired at Melbourne Park on Monday.

Medvedev, ranked No 3, led 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, 1-0 when Atmane, ranked No 144, was forced to retire.

That means the two-time Australian Open finalist escapes his first match of the season, even after surprisingly dropping the opening set. Medvedev, who fell in the third round to Sebastian Korda in 2023 at the Australian, will face Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland in the second round.

It wasn’t a simple contest. Medvedev served for the opening set at 5-4 but was made to pay for an erratic service game – three games later, in rising heat, he found himself down by a set.

Medevedev took the power back in the second set, but the third was close, as Atmane rallied from a break down to level at 2-all.

But Medvedev’s variety and keen court awareness, coupled with his willingness to use the drop shot to make his opponent run, eventually paid dividends, and caused Atmane to struggle physically.

“He’s not used to Grand Slams also yet, so a lot of nerves,” Medvedev said after the match. “The heat is there. So physically it’s not easy I think. Every match I saw was looking some guys are better, some guys are worse, but it’s tough for everyone.

“So I’m happy that I managed to be stronger physically because it was not easy at one moment. At this moment he started cramping. I was, like, okay, it’s not easy for him also. Just have to stay in there and happy to go through.”

The Russian improves to 22-7 lifetime in Melbourne with his win.

I feel, for whatever reason, I don’t know the reason, a little worse in these conditions Australian Open than some other tournaments.

Medvedev is a two-time runner-up at the Australian Open but admitted that he does not feel as comfortable at the first Grand Slam of the season as compared to the US Open.

“I feel, for whatever reason, I don’t know the reason, a little worse in these conditions Australian Open than some other tournaments. At the same time, I was two times in the final, and one I was really close to winning. So I really hope I can show my best tennis one time here, at least one, and win it,” the Russian said. “What else I can say? It’s the first tournament of the year. Even if you have, like, warm-up tournament, it’s still kind of beginning of the year, so the sensations are different. Whereas I feel like at US Open, I feel like many times I peak because you’re still not yet exhausted of the season, and it’s like for me the best moment where you had a lot of matches coming in, Toronto, Cincinnati. Have one week of practice, and you go for it.”

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other first-round matches (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 58,910,000):

• Emil Ruusuvuori beat Patrick Kypson (WC): 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
• Sebastian Korda (29) beat Vit Kopriva (Q): 6-1, 6-4, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2
• Flavio Cobolli vs. Nicolas Jarry: monday
• Lorenzo Musetti (25) beat Benjamin Bonzi: 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-2
• Hugo Gaston (LL) beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
• Frances Tiafoe (17) beat Borna Coric: 6-3, 7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-3
• Novak Djokovic (1) beat Dino Prizmic (Q): 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4
• Quentin Halys beat Lloyd Harris (Q): 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (2)
• Daniel Elahi Galan beat Jason Kubler (WC): 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (8)
• Sebastian Baez (26) beat J.J. Wolf: 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 3-0 ret.
• Taylor Fritz (12) beat Facundo Diaz Acosta: 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
• Jesper De Jong (Q) beat Pedro Cachin: 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
• Christopher O’Connell beat Cristian Garin: 3-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5
• Tomas Machac beat Shintaro Mochizuki (LL): 7-5, 6-1, 7-5
• Andrey Rublev (5) beat Thiago Seyboth Wild: 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (6)
• Fabian Marozsan beat Marin Čilić: 6-1, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5
• Francisco Cerundolo (22) beat Dane Sweeny (Q): 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
• Pavel Kotov beat Arthur Rinderknech: 7-5, 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-7 (5), 6-3
• Jannik Sinner (4) beat Botic van de Zandschulp: 6-4, 7-5, 6-3
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Adam Walton (WC): 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-4
• Jaume Munar beat Alexander Shevchenko: 6-3, 6-3, 6-1
• Richard Gasquet vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Alexander Zverev vs. Dominik Koepfer
• Daniel Evans vs. Lorenzo Sonego
• Sebastian Ofner vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis
• Mackenzie McDonald vs. Juncheng Shang
• Alexander Bublik vs. Sumit Nagal
• Tommy Paul vs. Gregoire Barrere
• Holger Rune vs. Yoshihito Nishioka
• SoonWoo Kwon vs. Lukas Klein
• Marcos Giron vs. Jack Draper
• Max Purcell vs. Mate Valkusz
• Grigor Dimitrov vs. Marton Fucsovics
• Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs. Casper Ruud
• Dusan Lajovic vs. Giulio Zeppieri
• Cameron Norrie vs. Juan Pablo Varillas
• Bernabe Zapata Miralles vs. Jiri Lehecka
• James McCabe vs. Alex Michelsen
• Roman Safiullin vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Arthur Fils vs. Jiri Vesely
• Laslo Djere vs. Arthur Cazaux
• Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Dominic Thiem
• Alex De Minaur vs. Milos Raonic
• Omar Jasika vs. Hubert Hurkacz
• Rinky Hijikata vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
• Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Yosuke Watanuki
• Alexandre Muller vs. Hugo Grenier
• Zhizhen Zhang vs. Federico Coria
• Ugo Humbert vs. David Goffin
• Maximilian Marterer vs. Nuno Borges
• Christopher Eubanks vs. Taro Daniel
• Daniel Altmaier vs. Karen Khachanov
• Alejandro Tabilo vs. Aleksandar Kovacevic
• Aleksandar Vukic vs. Jordan Thompson
• Andy Murray vs. Tomas Martin Etcheverry
• Yannick Hanfmann vs. Gael Monfils
• Denis Shapovalov vs. Jakub Mensik
• Zizou Bergs vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
• James Duckworth vs. Luca Van Assche
• Adrian Mannarino vs. Stan Wawrinka
• Alexei Popyrin vs. Marc Polmans
• Constant Lestienne vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
• Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Ben Shelton