Daniil Medvedev has never been a big fan of clay, but he had to like Monday’s result at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. Medvedev dug deep to win a two-hour and 52-minute battle against fellow Russian Karen Khachanov 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
The world No. 11 improved to 7-2 lifetime in the head-to-head series, but he would not have been overly confident heading into their latest title since Khachanov beat Medvedev at this same Monte-Carlo tournament just last year.
Medvedev got his revenge, however, and did it the hard way. The former U.S. Open champion survived an extremely tough test that left him cramping on the final two months of the match. Despite those physical issues, he managed to break Khachanov at 5-4 in the third set.
Daniil Medvedev was 6-2 lifetime against Karen Khachanov, but Medvedev lost their 2024 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters showdown in straight sets.
“I practiced very well before the tournament; I practiced better than I played today, even though I played well,” said Medvedev, who will next face Alexandre Muller. “It’s the first match on clay; it’s not my favorite surface…. But I’m happy to win. I watched the (other matches) today and there were a lot of breaks in all of them. Karen hit only one ace and he’s a big server. It was pretty slow, but I’m happy with my level in general.
“I’m feeling good. I had a long preparation for clay (for the) first time in five or six years, so that helped me to play [well] today.”
Also advancing in the principality on Day 2 were Matteo Berrettini, Lorenzo Musetti, Gael Monfils, Francisco Cerundolo, and Jiri Lehecka. Berrettini beat Mariano Navone 6-4, 6-4 to set up a showdown against No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev. Monfils came back from a set down to defeat Fabian Marozsan while booking his place alongside Andrey Rublev in the last 32.
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.
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