Daniil Medvedev advanced to the fourth round of the US Open

According to the results of the third round of the US Open, two of the best Russian tennis players remained in the men’s grid. The third racket of the world, Daniil Medvedev, dealt with the Argentinean Sebastian Baes in three sets, and Andrei Rublev, who occupies the eighth place in the world ranking, coped with the Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech in four games. In order to meet each other in the quarter-finals, the Russians had to win one victory each.

The presence of parallels between the last two matches of Daniil Medvedev, at first glance, can be traced so clearly that it is simply impossible not to mention them. The confrontation between the 2021 US Open champion and the Argentinean Sebastian Baez, as well as the second round meeting with the Australian Christopher O’Connell, were staged by the tournament organizers in the evening part of the schedule, and it took place according to a similar scenario. In the first and second sets, Medvedev gave two games each, and in the third set it again came to a tie-break, in the end of which the Russian did not convert match points, though not two, but three. The only difference seems to be that last time Medvedev had to play the fourth set, but now this has been avoided.

In fact, except for the late time of these matches, they turned out to be different. Unlike O’Connell, Baez, at 170 cm, stays much more often on the back line. For Medvedev, who prefers to deal with his opponents in rhythmic draws and does not really like being constantly attacked near the net, the Argentine tennis is more convenient. And, of course, in this case, the third set was different. Medvedev did not lead in the score, but conceded, and very seriously – 2:5. If a little earlier the Russian had not managed to keep his serve in the sixth game of the marathon, during which it was “exactly” seven times and Baez had three break points, the fourth installment would most likely have been unavoidable.

But then New York bad weather helped Medvedev. It began to rain, the Russian insisted that the organizers close the roof, and Baez, who had slightly lost courage during the break, missed the advantage. And in the tie-break, the fourth rally of 22 strokes turned out to be extremely important, which Medvedev, who was losing by that time with a score of 1: 2, completed with an excellent stroke along the line. In the end, however, he had to be nervous, but there was no drama. The 12th ace of the Russian was the last blow in this game, which lasted 2 hours and 41 minutes and ended with a score of 6:2, 6:2, 7:6 (8:6). The ratio of points won by shots right through (35) and unforced errors (49) suggests that Medvedev has not reached the peak of his form, but it is better to do this at the end of the tournament. In the meantime, it is more important to save energy, especially since the next match with the Australian Alex De Minor will certainly not be easy.

Another Russian representative of the top ten, Andrei Rublev, met Arthur Rinderknech in the 1/16 finals. The 28-year-old Frenchman, now ranked 73rd, is the first time he’s made it this far in a Grand Slam tournament. Tall (196 cm) Rinderkneh has a good serve, but in terms of stability on the back line, of course, he is inferior to the Russian tennis player. Therefore, it is not surprising that along the way, Rublev, who first met Rinderknech, gradually adapted to his game and, having lost the first set, won a comfortable victory in four games.

Rublev’s next opponent, Briton Jack Draper, is much better known to him. Last season they met twice, and both times the Russian won. 21-year-old Draper is ambitious and is not playing at the level of the second hundred rating, where he is now, but much better. In the second round, he practically did not leave the most dangerous Pole Hubert Hurkach with any chances, and then outplayed the American Michael Mmo, who at the very start knocked out Karen Khachanov, who resumed his performance after a serious lower back injury, from the grid. If Medvedev and Rublev win their next matches, they will meet in the quarterfinals, and the reality of this option is now quite high. True, we must not forget that Alex De Minor beat the Russian in the quarterfinals of the Masters in Toronto a month ago, and now he easily passed the Chilean Nicholas Harry and, in general, looked very confident on his way to the fourth round.

Meanwhile, in the women’s half of the tournament, after the defeats of Lyudmila Samsonova and Ekaterina Aleksandrova, only Daria Kasatkina continues the fight, which thus proved that she is absolutely the first racket of Russia. She passed the Belgian Gret Minnen relatively easily – in less than an hour and a half and giving up her serve only once. True, further Kasatkina faces an incredibly difficult task. The second racket of the world Arina Sobolenko in three matches in New York gave only 12 games, and in the recent face-to-face meeting of the 1/8 finals in Cincinnati she was clearly stronger than the Russian woman. Therefore, in order to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open for the first time, where she has never been before, Kasatkina needs to jump above her head.

Evgeny Fedyakov