With six serve breaks in nine games, Medvedev claimed the opening set. The Hungarian’s serve was lackluster, and the Russian’s unusually cautious serving resulted in four double faults, as per Reuters.
From that point on, Medvedev was much more at ease, aided by his opponent’s 45 unintentional mistakes and long list of badly timed drop shots.
After winning with a springy backhand on match point, Medvedev-who has a tumultuous history with the Flushing Meadows crowd-seemed displeased with the spectators’ lack of enthusiasm.
Although fifth seed Medvedev advanced to the finals of both the Australian Open and the Indian Wells Open this year, he was not considered one of the favorites heading into the U.S. Open following first-round losses at tune-up events in Cincinnati and Canada.
In the third round on Saturday, Medvedev-who was broken four times during the match-will take on Flavio Cobolli, an Italian who is ranked 31st.