Medvedev digs deep to hold off Muller at Wimbledon

It may have taken some hard graft, but Daniil Medvedev showed signs he is starting to warm to Centre Court on Wednesday at Wimbledon.

The fifth seed rallied from a set and a break down against Alexandre Muller on Wednesday inside the All England Club’s main arena. After saving two set points to avoid falling to a two-set deficit, Medvedev dug deep for a 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 6-4, 7-5 second-round triumph.

“It was a very tough, physical match,” said Medvedev. “Alex played well and some moments in the match were very tough to stay in touch with him. I was losing by one set and a break. On grass that is never easy, but I managed to stay solid, always stay in the match and try to fight. Definitely happy with the win. I should have played much better, but it’s okay. When you win, there is a next round to try to do better.”

FIGHTING BACK ?@DaniilMedwed | @DaniilMedwed | #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/xrYNxq1xiO

During a light-hearted interview after his opening-round win against Aleksandar Kovacevic, Medvedev expressed his affection for No. 1 Court, where he has never lost a match. On Wednesday, he was attempting to banish the demons of his previous appearance on Centre Court, a three-set semi-final defeat to Carlos Alcaraz last year. The World No. 5 accomplished that task, but it was not straightforward.

“Well, I won,” said Medvedev in his on-court interview when asked whether his court preference at SW19 had shifted. “I didn’t play the best match. For whatever reason it feels much slower. Really slow bounce, not like a grass court where it normally slides [through]. I need to get used to it, and to be honest the more matches I play on it, the more chances I have to play better and better.

“Even today, I managed to play better during the match. Definitely always happy to play on Centre Court at Wimbledon, but more happy when I win. When you lose, you are like, ‘Okay, it was nice to play on Centre Court’, but you are not that happy when you lose.”

Muller had seriously threatened to serve up another disappointing experience for Medvedev on the Centre Court grass. The No. 102 in the PIF ATP Rankings clinched the opening set in a tie-break before racing to a 3-0 lead in the second. Even after Medvedev reclaimed the Frenchman’s early break, Muller had set points at both 5-4 and 6-5.

Ultimately, however, Medvedev’s consistency from the baseline and booming serve proved crucial for his three-hour, 28-minute win in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Muller. He sent down 14 aces and converted four of 12 break points he earned en route to his 30th tour-level win of the year.

”At the end of the first set my thoughts were definitely not good, because at 3/6 in the tie-break I thought the set was lost," said Medvedev. "I went to my seat and the referee was telling me, ‘It’s only 3/6’. I managed to regain a calmer mind in the second set. Even when I lost my serve, I managed to kind of stay composed and turn the match around. I’m pretty happy about it.”

Now into the third round for the fifth time in six Wimbledon appearances, the 20-time tour-level champion Medvedev will take on 32nd seed Zhang Zhizhen or Jan-Lennard Struff next. The 28-year-old is chasing his first title of 2024 this fortnight at SW19, and his first major crown since his 2021 US Open triumph.

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