French Open 2021: Daniil Medvedev defeats the ‘American Giant’ Reilly Opelka to enter the Round of 16 for the first time
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Daniil Medvedev
It is an uncharted territory for Daniil Medvedev but he sure must be feeling home on Clay as defeats Big Serving American Reilly Opelka in straight sets 6-4,6-2,6-4 to enter the Fourth Round of Roland Garros for the first time. The Russian was much more calm than his previous round matches and produced one of his best matches on Clay in front of the Parisian crowd at Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Medvedev came with an intent into the match and his only mantra for the match was to minimize risk and keep this hitting clean. But he wasn’t particularly quick of the blocks. Opelka blew him away with his serve and broke him in the 4th game to take a 3-1 lead. But the second seed broke back the very next game and suddenly was returning Opelka’s serve well.
The American also helped him with a queue of unforced errors on serve. The Russian then won 4 games in a row to take a decisive 5-3 lead. He eventually served out the set 6-4 in just 35 minutes.
Medvedev too good for Opelka
Medvedev stepped up his game even more in the start of the second set. He broke Opelka in the very first game and consolidated it with a commanding hold. The next game saw Opelka hit two double faults to hand another break to Medvedev. The Russian ran with a 4-0 lead and held serve for the remainder of the set to win it 6-2 in 29 minutes.
It was evident that Opelka was clearly struggling with his serve. He could only hit 5 aces throughout the match compared to Medvedev’s 10. The third set was much more stable than the previous two early on but Opelka, to his dismay just couldn’t stop hitting unforced errors.
The No.2 seed took a crucial break in the third game and held serve to take a 3-1 early lead. He didn’t look back and held each of his next 3 served and closed out the set 6-4 in 34 minutes. He will next face wither Cristian Garin or Marcos Giron on Sunday.
Also read: French Open 2021: Alexander Zverev continues his good run, marches into the Round of 16
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)