On Friday, July 7, Wimbledon hosts the second and third round matches in men’s and women’s singles. There were so many matches accumulated due to the rains that five representatives of Russia were supposed to take to the courts that day. Among them, Daniil Medvedev, the third racket in the world, ended their fight on one of the major’s grass pitches. The day before, the match between the 27-year-old Muscovite and the representative of France was postponed due to darkness at the end of the third set with a score of 4:4. It was the Russian who left behind the first two games, taking them with the same score 6:3, 6:3.
It should be noted that the Wimbledon organizers placed the duel between the Russian and the French only on the third most important court – court number 2. Daniil’s fans have already rushed to express their dissatisfaction with this on social networks. And indeed: the third seed of the tournament was not found in one of the two central venues of the competition. Let’s remember that he played his first match against Arthur Fery on court number 1. In his debut, the Russian did not experience any special problems, beating the British in three games. Mannarino, in turn, defeated Alexander Shevchenko at the start of Wimbledon.
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The successful start of the third Major of the season, of course, could not fail to find a response among national experts. Then, the honored coach of Russia in tennis, Viktor Yanchuk, said the following: “Medvedev’s ability is higher, because he confidently outplayed his opponent. Although the English public stood ear to ear for his young player. But they have forgotten the main thing – this only encourages Medvedev to take more decisive action. He does not play thanks to the support of the stands, but in spite of it. Everything went well for him,” Yanchuk said in an interview with the Championship.
Olympic champion, Grand Slam winner in doubles Elena Vesnina also commented on Daniil’s excellent start at Wimbledon 2023: “Today was a very calm and confident victory for Medvedev. Great start at Wimbledon – more to come! Due to the rain, he had to wait a long time for his first match in the tournament. I’m sure it added to his nervousness. For Dani, it was important to start with confidence, not to give the opponent a chance, in the end it happened. He went through even three sets, not allowing Feri to raise his head. Well done for coping with the big rain and pressure. London doesn’t exist without rain, that’s how it’s always been at Wimbledon.”
Adrian, as you know, is one of the most uncomfortable opponents for Daniel. The point is, the head-to-head score is 4-2 in favor of the 35-year-old Soisy-sous-Montmorency native (3-1 on grass, 1-0 at Wimbledon). The last time they played was quite a while ago, in the second round of Dutch Hertogenbosch. Three weeks ago it was Adrian who celebrated the victory – 4:6, 6:4, 6:2. It is worth adding that Mannarino is 1 of 17 players to whom the Russian is inferior in personal encounters. And those with whom Medvedev has played at least five times and who, at the same time, is inferior in personal meetings, there are only eight. In addition to Mannarino, this group includes, for example, Big-3 representatives Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
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Let’s briefly recall how the events of yesterday’s segment of the showdown unfolded. In the first set, the key was the seventh game, in which Daniil made an important break. Then the Russian took two more games in a row, setting the final numbers on the scoreboard after the debut game – 6:3. Note that the 27-year-old Moscow native was able to improve in the second half of the set, using more non-standard and tricky combinations, allowing him to hold.
In the second installment, the Russian immediately began to crush his opponent. Russia’s first racket was leading 5-0, but then he released the strings of the game and allowed Adrian to come back to him. Mannarino took three games in a row, but the Frenchman was not enough for more. 6:3 – with such a score the second set ended.
During the third game, it gradually began to get dark, so there was a danger that the athletes would not have time to finish the match. And so it happened. With the score 4:4, the match was stopped, and it was Medvedev who initiated the transfer. After the eighth game was lost outright, the Russian told the referee the following: “If you are not going to stop the match, I will stop it myself. It’s too dark to play,” Daniel told the judge. As a result, it was decided to postpone the match until the next day.
In general, the story of the postponement of matches at Wimbledon is no longer new for the champion of the US Open – 2021. Two years ago, the 1/8 final match against Hubert Hurkach also did not end immediately. So the culprit was the transfer of rain. The replay took place on the indoor Center Court the next day, and it was the Pole who won in five sets: 2:6, 7:6, 3:6, 6:3, 6:3. Naturally, Medvedev remembered that defeat.
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However, this time everything turned out to be much more successful for the Russian. The athletes entered court number 2 with the second throw after the match between Petra Kvitova and Alexandra Sasnovich. First, both tennis players won games on their serves, and then they managed to do it again. Thus, the fate of the game was decided in a tiebreaker, although Medvedev could have made a break in the 11th game, but he did not take advantage of the only opportunity of his. In the “tennis penalties” it was Mannarino who made the first mini-break, leading on the move with a score of 2:0. However, Daniil returned to the game, changed the course of the important 13th game and, from the second match point, managed to leave the game and the match for himself: 6: 3, 6: 3, 7: 6 (7: 5).
After the meeting, the Moscow native, however, returned to in-game flashbacks with Khurkach. Daniil responded to the interviewer’s question as follows: “This time I decided to do everything differently regarding the match with Khurkach and did not do any post-match procedures, I did not even wash my hair.” The tournament representative responded, “It sounds like you gave away too much information, Daniel.” Funny situation, right?
Thus, the Russian took revenge on the French for the insulting defeat in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and for reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon he will play with Marton Fucovich.
