No. 3 seed and last year’s finalist Daniil Medvedev had to dig deep to overcome Frenchman Adrian Mannarino but managed to emerge victorious 7-6(6), 6-2 in the second round of the China Open on Saturday. Mannarino has always been a difficult matchup for Medvedev, who called him a “tough opponent” during a press conference earlier in the tournament. With this victory, Medvedev leveled his head-to-head at 4-4.
Lengthy, cross court rallies were a common sight in the first set, bouncing between Medvedev’s backhand and the left-handed Mannarino’s forehand in a war of attrition. Points were decided by a slim margin as Medvedev made 22 unforced errors throughout the first set and Mannarino made 25. The players looked evenly matched as the games culminated in a tense tiebreaker, which Medvedev prevailed 8-6 to win the first set win.
While Mannarino began to falter in the second set, Medvedev endured. Rallies became shorter as Medvedev took advantage of Mannarino’s fatigue, breaking the Frenchman’s serve three times. Both players continued to make unforced errors, but Mannarino made more, finishing the match with 39 to Medvedev’s 29. Mannarino kept pace for the first four games to make it 2-2, but then Medvedev dominated four consecutive games to emerge victorious, breaking the Frenchman’s serve four times in the match.
Medvedev’s serve was broken twice in the match (saved 5 of 7 break points) and his serve improved from the prior round. He boasted a 66% first serve percentage, winning 80% of points when his first serve went in. Medvedev also hit eight aces in the match, five coming in the second set.
Medvedev, who finished runner-up to Jannik Sinner in last year’s China Open, will next face Italian player Flavio Cobolli in the quarterfinals in their second-ever meeting. Medvedev beat Cobolli in the U.S. Open third round on August 31.
--Reporting by Jared Rubenstein
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