Rome: Daniil Medvedev continued his Rome title defence with Monday’s hard-fought 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 7-5 win over qualifier Hamad Medjedovic as the men’s tournament was left wide open by big-name exits, the latest being fourth seed Andrey Rublev.
Russian Medvedev will face Tommy Paul in the last 16 at the Foro Italico on Tuesday after battling past Next Gen champion Medjedovic in a gruelling clash of big hitters.
The second seed has a great opportunity to win his first tournament of the year but will be drained by a match which pushed three hours in length and suggested that 20-year-old Medjedovic is a far superior player to his world ranking of 121.
“I’m not really pleased. I felt like I started the match well and then in a way it was only going downhill, I’m happy that by not playing my best I could win and tomorrow I’m going to try to find my best tennis.”, said Medvedev.