By Karolos Grohmann
PARIS (Reuters) – Second seed Daniil Medvedev cruised past Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia with a comfortable 6-2 6-4 6-2 victory 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.
“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 Serb 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.
He 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 lengthy rally and a slice backhand that went long.
Medvedev finished the game on his first match point, firing a forehand cross-court past Kecmanovic. He next plays the winner of the match between Frenchman Gilles Simon and Croatia’s Marin Cilic.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
