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
— ATP Tour (@atptour) May 14, 2023Medvedev 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…