Daniil Medvedev is a pragmatist. Do the work, get the result, worry about the details later: such would seem to be his mantra. The manner in which victory is achieved is no more important to Medvedev than the circumstances that surround it. If people find his style ungainly, so be it; if the crowd are against him, well, that’s just grist to the mill.
The Russian’s level-headed approach to the game served him well against Ilya Ivashka at the Paris Masters, where a mid-match lull threatened to derail his late-season bid to unseat Novak Djokovic as world No 1 at the first hurdle. The contest was fast becoming a formality when Medvedev, seeking to avenge a Davis Cup defeat to the Belarusian three years ago in their only previous meeting, raced to a 5-1 first-set lead. But three break points quickly came and went for the US Open champion, and four games would pass before he held another.
At the age of 27, Ivashka has enjoyed a breakout year, marking his Wimbledon debut with a run to the last 16, reaching the third round of the US Open for the first time, and winning his maiden ATP Tour title in Winston-Salem to belatedly crack the top 50. The Belarusian has form for improbable comebacks, too, having recovered from a set and a break down to defeat Alexander Zverev in Munich earlier this season.
It was not to be for Ivashka on this occasion, however, an error-strewn game at 5-5 stalling his momentum and enabling Medvedev, who blew ironic kisses to the overexuberant fans who tried to distract him as he served for the match, to regain control.
“The last time we played he beat me at Davis Cup. I’ve known him since the Futures and I knew that he’s a great player on the rise, so I knew it would not be easy,” said Medvedev, the second seed, whose hopes of dethroning Djokovic as world No 1 rest on making up an 800-point deficit.
“At the beginning of the match [my level] was good but in the middle of the match there were some things I could do better. The most important thing is the victory. It doesn’t matter how you play in the first round. The one who raises his level throughout the tournament is the one who will win it.”
That is a sentiment that Djokovic, who survived a scare of his own against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, will appreciate. In his first singles outing since losing to Medvedev in the US Open final, a defeat that quashed his attempt to complete a calendar-year grand slam, the Serb was pushed to a deciding set by the 40th-ranked Fucsovics, his relief evident in the passion with which he celebrated after finally prevailing 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.
“It was a great fight and a great opening match for me,” said Djokovic. “I did not expect anything, but I knew it was not going to be an easy match.”
Earlier on Wednesday, an arm injury forced Stefanos Tsitsipas, the third seed, to retire from his opening match against Alexei Popyrin while trailing 4-2. The Greek declined to reveal the exact nature of the problem, but was in obvious pain after several shots, grimacing and grasping the area around his right elbow. Tsitsipas said that, with the ATP Finals looming, his retirement was partly a precautionary measure.
“I haven’t retired once in my life, and it was something that I had to do today,” said Tsitsipas, who added that he would rest the injury and seek treatment. “I’m trying to be cautious for the next tournament, which is the most important one for me. I have had an issue [with the arm] for quite a while now. It has gotten bigger in the last couple of weeks, so I’m just trying to protect it.”
Andrey Rublev also fell, beaten 7-5, 7-6 (7-2) by the in-form American Taylor Fritz, although – given the Russian fifth seed’s patchy form since Indian Wells – arguably the bigger upset lay in Carlos Alcaraz’s 7-6 (7-1), 7-5 victory over Jannik Sinner. Having edged ahead of Hubert Hurkacz in the race to Turin by claiming a fourth title of the year in Antwerp and reaching the semi-finals of the Vienna Open, Sinner once more finds his hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals in doubt. Alcaraz, however, continues to go from strength to strength, with the eighth-seeded Sinner his third top-10 scalp in two months following wins over Tsitsipas at the US Open and Matteo Berrettini in Vienna.
“I think that I played really, really aggressive, more than him,” said the 18-year-old Spaniard, whose rivalry with the Italian promises to be a staple at the top of the men’s game in years to come. “I think that this was one of the keys, not to let him play aggressively during the match. I was focused all the time on what I had to do.
“Every top-10 player is so difficult to play. Against Tsitsipas, [Alexander] Zverev, Berrettini, now Sinner, it’s really tough to play. Jannik is playing really good tennis right now. I think he’s feeling so comfortable playing. I know against these kinds of players I have to play my best tennis.”
Any hopes Felix Auger-Aliassime harboured of reaching Turin were quashed by lucky loser Dominik Koepfer, who followed up his opening round win over Andy Murray with a 6-3, 7-5 win victory over the ninth seed.
“I fought against myself at some times,” said Auger-Aliassime. “I leave here disappointed.”