Second seed Daniil Medvedev cruised past Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 6-2 6-4 6-2 in less than two hours on Saturday to advance to the French Open fourth round. The U.S. Open champion, who reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros last year after four consecutive first-round exits, played near-flawless service games throughout to give his opponent, ranked 31st in the world, no real chance.
"It was magnificent today; I did not have my serve broken," Medvedev, runner-up at the Australian Open this season, said in an on-court interview. "On this surface it is quite unusual. Hopefully there are more such matches for me next week.
#2 Daniil Medvedev plays one of his best matches of the season to beat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 and reach the last 16 at #RolandGarros for a 2nd consecutive.
Finding his clay level from 2019 (MC SF, Barcelona final..) and playing like this can really reach the final here. pic.twitter.com/JZZnfW5kaN
— Jose Morgado (@josemorgado) May 28, 2022
"Like in my French, I try to do better in my tennis all the time. The better I learn French, the better my tennis will become."
Medvedev found little resistance on his least favourite surface from the Serbian 28th seed and broke him twice in the opening set before another early break made sure of a 2-0 set lead for the Russian.
Medvedev had arrived at the French Open with only one match on clay under his belt after undergoing a procedure to treat a hernia in April but it did not show against Kecmanovic, who tried to battle back only to be broken again at 2-2 following a long rally and a sliced backhand that went long.
Medvedev finished the game on his first match point, firing a forehand cross-court past Kecmanovic. He will next play Croatia`s former U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic.
"I`ll have to do better in Roland Garros than last year, that`s for sure," he told reporters. "Again, last year I felt like I was playing great tennis, and yet I lost in quarters.
"I think every time somebody comes up to me playing on clay, they`re going to be like, we have the chance. Maybe on hard courts they are still going to believe but maybe they are going to be a little bit scared or whatever. Here I think everybody believes they can beat me."
