Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas seek ‘greener pastures’ ahead of Wimbledon
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Russian Daniil Medvedev made short work of his opponent, winning 6-4, 6-3 in 71 minutes in Germany.
PHOTO: AFP
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BERLIN – It was clear Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas have both done their homework, and are taking the grass-court season seriously ahead of Wimbledon, which starts on July 3.
On Monday, Russian top seed Medvedev won his opener at the warm-up tournament for the Grand Slam in Halle, defeating American Marcos Giron 6-4, 6-3.
The world No. 3 came into the match after two straight defeats but made short work of his opponent, winning in 71 minutes. With his victory, the 27-year-old set up a second-round encounter with Laslo Djere of Serbia.
Medvedev has won on the surface before, at the lower-tier ATP 250 Mallorca Open in 2021. He also made it to the final at the 2022 Halle tournament in Germany, but lost to Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in straight sets.
He hopes to set things right but, more importantly, he is looking at the bigger picture.
“I’m happy to win because sometimes grass is like this,” he said.
“You need to break once in a set, serve well, and the match is yours. That’s what I managed to do.
“I had only three games where I had chances on his serve. I managed to take two of them, amazing, and I saved all the tough moments I had on my serve.
“It was a really tough match. It was definitely not the best match of my life. I was still lacking the rhythm a little bit. But (regardless of) that, he played very well.”
He was not the only player analysing his own game on grass at the ATP 500 event. In an earlier match, Greek world No. 5 Tsitsipas came from behind to defeat Frenchman Gregoire Barrere to make it to the last 16.
The second seed lost the first set and fell a break down in the second, before recovering to win 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) against Barrere, ranked 58th.
Tsitsipas, who was knocked out in the second round in his previous two appearances in Halle, will face Chilean Nicolas Jarry next. He is seeking his first title of 2023.
Like former US Open champion Medvedev, the 24-year-old is also noting his performances on grass as he looks ahead to Wimbledon in search of a Grand Slam title that has eluded him.
“I feel so in my natural habitat when I’m in front of the net,” said Tsitsipas, who won 76 per cent (28/37) of points when he came to the net against Barrere. “Serve and volleying, I don’t get to do that very often.
“I feel like grass allows me to do that a bit more... My serve proved to be a massive weapon today by giving me that first volley I was looking for and making my life a bit easier at the net.
“But I wasn’t too consistent with my returns. I could have done much better in that department and, psychologically, it helped my opponent (settle).” AFP
