Daniil Medvedev will go to mattress within the wee hours of Friday morning glad that he navigated by way of a late-night check within the US Open second spherical.
The third seed defeated Australian Christopher O’Connell 6-2, 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-2 to seize his 250th hard-court victory and attain the third spherical of the season’s ultimate main, the place he was topped champion in 2021. Medvedev had two match factors at 6/4 within the third-set tie-break earlier than the 29-year-old O’Connell received 4 consecutive factors, two of which had been double faults from the World No. 3.
Aiming for his second main title this fortnight, Medvedev was almost at his finest within the opening two units, displaying all-court protection and pinning O’Connell with depth on his groundstrokes. Medvedev didn’t hand over a degree behind his first serve till 4-1, 40/15 within the second set. However a third-set surge from the Sydney native pressured the World No. 3 to regain focus and keep on courtroom till 1:10 a.m. to succeed in the third spherical.
“Robust match. I don’t know why, however at one second within the match he determined to play higher,” joked Medvedev in his on-court interview. “I performed the identical from the primary level to the final. It grew to become a lot harder for me, so I’m completely satisfied that I used to be capable of nonetheless hold in there. I had alternatives within the third set, and I managed to make use of them within the fourth.”
O’Connell recovered from a break down within the third set by taking earlier cuts on the ball and hitting much less slice than he did within the first two units. He additionally moved ahead extra continuously to place stress on Medvedev, implementing a number of serve-and-volleys.
The 27-year-old Medvedev rapidly responded to a irritating finish to the third set, reverting to consistency from the baseline to keep away from any additional drama on Louis Armstrong Stadium. After three hours, three minutes, Medvedev transformed his fourth match level to enhance to 3-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head sequence with World No. 69 O’Connell, who was aiming to succeed in the third spherical of a serious for the second time this 12 months (Wimbledon).
“Once you get annoyed, you by no means know. You could possibly lose your focus and the match might change into a lot harder, or like right this moment, I felt like perhaps it helped me a little bit bit,” Medvedev stated. “Normally, I felt prefer it was an important match to play, actually.”
Placing on a present 🤩 @DaniilMedwed@usopen | #USOpwn
— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 1, 2023
Pursuing a second main title this fortnight, Medvedev will subsequent look to finish Sebastian Baez’s 12-match successful streak of their first assembly.
Medvedev, who’s a 20-time tour-level titlist, boasts a 51-11 match file this season, claiming 4 of his 5 trophies this 12 months on arduous courts. He’s the fifteenth energetic participant to file 250 profession hard-court wins (tour-level) and the primary below age 30.
Baez superior after Brazilian qualifier Felipe Meligeni Alves retired with the Argentine main 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-4. At a career-high No. 27 within the Pepperstone ATP Stay Rankings, the 22-year-old Baez is into the third spherical of a serious for the primary time. He arrived in New York following two consecutive tour-level titles: Kitzbühel and Winston-Salem.