Medvedev picks up first-ever match victory at Roland-Garros

Daniil Medvedev advanced out of the first round of the French Open for the first time in his career on Monday afternoon. The world No 2 made surprisingly routine work of Alexander Bublik, prevailing 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 after one hour and 54 minutes.

Medvedev’s only tough moment came when Bublik served for the third set, but the Kazakh could not close it out. The Russian ended up winning the last four games of the match to erase a 5-3 deficit.

Despite being a two-time Grand Slam finalist (2019 US Open, 2021 Australian Open), Medvedev had been 0-4 lifetime at Roland-Garros prior to Monday.

“I CAN PLAY LIKE ON HARD COURTS.”

“(It) feels great,” the second seed assured. “But the most important is the level of tennis. I’ve been showing, as I said before the tournament, it was not mind games. My opponent can see I was really feeling good. I managed to play consistent today. I actually played much better in practices than today, so there is room for improvement. Hopefully it can be only better for the next rounds. As I say, (I’m) really happy first of all with the win and then with my level of play also.

“I feel really hopeful. You could see it today in the match; I’m feeling that here — at least this year with this weather, with these balls — I can play like on hard courts. It doesn’t feel different than Australian Open for me coming into this tournament.

“If I lose here in Roland Garros it’s probably going to be because my opponent will play really good. As I said, I feel very confident, I move well, slide well.”

Medvedev now slides into the second round for the first time and will meet Tommy Paul, who outlasted Christopher O’Connell 10-8 in the fifth set.