Medvedev Downs Ruusuvuori For Maiden Rome Win

Arriving at this year’s Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Daniil Medvedev had registered 76 ATP Masters 1000 match wins. Yet none of them had come in Rome.

The 27-year-old added a victory in the Eternal City to his collection in style on Sunday afternoon, when he overcame Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4, 6-2 to reach the third round at the clay-court event.

“It is a little bit [of a relief],” said Medvedev after tasting victory on the Rome clay for the first time in four main-draw appearances. “We can talk about all of the matches I lost here, they were different. The first one, I feel like I should have won, but it is [what it is]. Whenever I come to a tournament, I know that I can play well, so I’m happy to finally get the win here in Rome.”

Excellently crafted point ?@DaniilMedwed | @InteBNLdItalia | #IBI23 pic.twitter.com/sI8IwWFqKu

Medvedev managed a potentially tricky opening match with a typically resilient display of baseline hitting. He redirected Ruusuvuori’s powerful groundstrokes to great effect on Court Pietrangeli, where he broke the Finn’s serve five times en route to an 88-minute triumph.

With his Tour-leading 32nd match win of the year, the third-seeded Medvedev improved to 10-0 in opening rounds for 2023. The five-time Masters 1000 champion will seek to maintain his momentum in a third-round clash against Bernabe Zapata Miralles.

More to follow…