Daniil Medvedev opens the championship – Newspaper Kommersant No. 159 (7360) of 08/31/2022

The beginning of the US Open, gaining momentum in New York, was marked by several sensations. In the upper part of the men’s bracket, where last year’s tournament winner and world ranking leader Daniil Medvedev is located, the 5th and 12th rackets of the world immediately dropped out of the fight – the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and the American Taylor Fritz, who were considered potential rivals of the Russian in the semifinals. Losers also included the Georgian seed Nikoloz Basilashvili, who, in theory, was supposed to play with Medvedev in the third round, and the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, who faced the Russian in the 1/8 finals.

Surprises of all sorts are an integral part of the early days of any Grand Slam tournament. But on the opening day of this US Open, their number clearly exceeded the average. For women, for example, the former first racket of the world Simona Halep immediately dropped out of the fight, who, two weeks after her triumph at a major tournament in Toronto, lost to the debutant of the majors, Ukrainian Daria Snigur, who made her way into the main draw through qualification. The Russian Daria Kasatkina also flew out, apparently not having time to digest winning the second title in a month in the Canadian Granby. The ninth racket of the world was defeated by the 88th – Briton Darriet Hart. But another Russian woman, Evgenia Rodina, was surprised – the mother of a ten-year-old daughter and the happy owner of the so-called protected rating, which allows tennis players to apply for a certain number of tournaments, regardless of their position in the world classification. Not speaking since 2019, she immediately got on the Italian Martina Trevisan, a recent semi-finalist of Roland Garros, but she did not hesitate and won in two games.

But if in the women’s majors, big surprises in the first rounds have become commonplace in recent years, then in men they usually represented piece goods. And here, a real disaster awaited a few favorites of the men’s grid. For example, it’s simply incomprehensible to the mind how the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas could be so embarrassed – the fifth number in the rating of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which, if successful for himself, could become its leader in two weeks. Playing with the winner of the qualifying Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan, he gave up 11 games in a row at the beginning of the match and eventually lost in four games. The fiasco also befell the 12th racket of the world American Taylor Fritz, who, after stable results in the middle of the season, was called one of the real contenders for a place in the top eight at the end of the year and, accordingly, for participation in the final ATP tournament in Turin. He was beaten by compatriot and peer Brandon Holt, another qualifying champion, only 303rd in the ranking, and the son of the female ex-first racket of the world Tracy Austin.

Both of these results, of course, seriously adjust the balance of power at the US Open. After all, they are directly related to Daniil Medvedev, who theoretically could reach Fritz or Tsitsipas in the semifinals (and the Greek, by the way, quite recently, in Montreal, beat the Russian).

One gets the impression that in New York, with the first kicks on the ball, an emergency operation began to eliminate all potentially dangerous opponents of Daniil Medvedev on the way to the final.

After all, the Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, who went to him in the third round, also flew out. The 31st seed was beaten by another winner of the qualifying competitions, the Chinese Wu Yibin. And now it turns out that in the event of a victory over the Frenchman Arthur Rinderkneh, the 58th racket of the world, Medvedev in the 1/16 finals will in any case play with an opponent outside the top hundred. And in the fourth round, only Australian Nick Kirios can pose a real threat to him. After all, the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, 18th in the ranking, has also already dropped out of the fight.

The duel with Kirios, of course, can be a very serious test for the Russian. But on the whole, events at the US Open so far are developing not just favorably for Medvedev, but ideally. And it would be a shame not to use it.

Evgeny Fedyakov