(Paris) Daniil Medvedev, 5e world, had to battle for 3 hours 23 minutes on Saturday to overcome the Czech Tomas Machac (34e) 7-6 (7/4), 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 and qualify for the round of 16 at Roland Garros.
While he had benefited from the retirement of his opponent Miomir Kecmanovic in the second round (6-1, 5-0 in favor of the Russian), Medvedev admitted to having played a “very tough” match this time.
“After losing the third set and at the start of the fourth, I managed to stay focused. I had in mind to go to the end. It didn’t necessarily mean winning, but fighting to the end. The match could go either way, so I’m happy to have won,” he commented.
His opponent of the day was only playing the main draw of Roland-Garros for the second time, but he had already reached 3e tour at the beginning of the year at the Australian Open and remained on a victory against Novak Djokovic last week in Geneva.
On Monday, Medvedev will face Australian Alex De Minaur (11e) or to the German Jan-Lennard Struff (41e).
Until this year, the 28-year-old Russian affirmed his pure and simple hatred of clay: he never went beyond the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros (played in 2021) while he won the International United States (2021) and played finals at the Australian Open (2021, 2022, 2024) and the US Open (2019, 2023). At Wimbledon, his best result was the semi-final played last year.
In his seven previous appearances on Parisian soil, Medvedev has lost five times in the first round, including last year.
Facing Machac, he took 75 minutes to win the first set in the tiebreaker. Then he slightly shortened the second (57 minutes) by breaking to lead 6-5 and serve for the set.
On his momentum, he made the break at the start of the third set, but Machac came back in stride and won five more games in a row to win the set.
The standoff resumed in the fourth set but the Czech broke down at the end: trailing 5-4, he offered a match point on a missed smash then hit a final shot well out of bounds.