{"id":72526,"date":"2021-10-10T15:18:09","date_gmt":"2021-10-10T15:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=72526"},"modified":"2021-10-10T15:18:09","modified_gmt":"2021-10-10T15:18:09","slug":"us-open-champion-medvedev-cruises-into-third-round-at-indian-wells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=72526","title":{"rendered":"US Open champion Medvedev cruises into third round at Indian Wells"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Sports Desk:<\/strong> US Open champion Daniil Medvedev made a smooth return to ATP action Saturday, downing American Mackenzie McDonald 6-4, 6-2 to reach the third round at Indian Wells.<\/p>\n

The second-ranked Russian — the top men's seed in the combined WTA and ATP Masters hard court tournament — played his first ATP match since capturing his maiden Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows — where he denied Novak Djokovic a rare calendar Grand Slam sweep.<\/p>\n

Since then, Medvedev helped Team Europe beat Team World at the Laver Cup, and kept things rolling with a convincing win over 57th-ranked McDonald.<\/p>\n

Medvedev didn't face a break point, and converted three of his seven break chances against the American to wrap things up in 72 minutes.<\/p>\n

“I'm actually really pleased, because usually I haven't played well in Indian Wells and I haven't been playing that well in practices before (the tournament),” said Medvedev, who was 3-3 in prior appearances in the California desert.<\/p>\n

“Really happy with my performance,” he added. “That's the most important no matter how I played before the tournament.<\/p>\n

“Mackenzie is a really strong opponent, he can put pressure on everybody,” Medvedev said. “I'm happy to be through quite fast.”<\/p>\n

Women's top seed Karolina Pliskova also eased into the third round as fifth-seeded Garbine Muguruza was toppled by Ajla Tomljanovic.<\/p>\n

Pliskova, ranked third in the world, needed 80 minutes to get past 23-year-old Polish qualifier Magdalena Frech 7-5, 6-2.<\/p>\n

Pliskova fired six aces to take her WTA-leading tally to 387 for the season, converting five of six break chances against Frech.<\/p>\n

It was the 106th-ranked Frech who grabbed the first break of the match, taking a 4-3 lead in the opening set.<\/p>\n

But Pliskova promptly broke back and leading 6-5 the Czech gave herself a set point with a backhand winner before Frech fired into the net.<\/p>\n

Pliskova powered to a 5-1 lead in the second set and, after dropping her serve while serving for the match, broke Frech for the fifth time in the match to claim the win.<\/p>\n

Spain's Muguruza, meanwhile, was bundled out 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 by Australia's Tomljanovic, who reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final at Wimbledon earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Muguruza appeared to have turned things around when she pocketed the second set to level the match — aided by a rise in errors from the Aussie.<\/p>\n

But Tomljanovic regrouped, breaking Muguruza in the opening game of the third.<\/p>\n

Muguruza pulled the break back to knot the set at 3-3 only to drop her serve again and Tomljanovic finished it off with a final service break.<\/p>\n

In other early women's second-round matches, Ons Jabeur edged Anastasija Sevastova 6-2, 6-7 (5\/7), 6-3 to reach the third round.<\/p>\n

The night session saw Canadian Bianca Andreescu launch her defense of the title she won in 2019 — the most recent edition of the tournament — as she took on American Alison Riske in the second round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sports Desk: US Open champion Daniil Medvedev made a smooth return to ATP action Saturday, downing American Mackenzie McDonald 6-4, 6-2 to reach the third round at Indian Wells. The second-ranked Russian — the top men’s seed in the combined WTA and ATP Masters hard court tournament — played his first ATP match since capturing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":72528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n