By Adrianna Outlaw | Monday, July 26, 2021
No. 2-seeded Daniil Medvedev dismissed India's Sumit Nagal 6-2, 6-1 to roll into an Olympic third-round clash vs. Fabio Fognini.
Photo credit: International Tennis Federation Facebook
Men's seeds were sharp in Tokyo on Monday.
Second-seeded Daniil Medvedev dismissed India's Sumit Nagal 6-2, 6-1 to roll into an Olympic third-round clash vs. Fabio Fognini.
More: Vekic Tops Third-Seeded Sabalenka at Olympics
Medvedev, who defeated dangerous Alexander Bublik in his opener, has not dropped a set through two rounds. The 15th-seeded Fognini fended off Egor Gerasimov 6-4, 7-6(4). Medvedev has beaten the theatrical Fognini in three of four career meetings, all played on hard courts.
The Australian Open finalist joins world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in round three.
The top-seeded Serbian broke Jan-Lennard Struff's serve three times in a row scoring a 6-4, 6-3 victory over the big-serving German. Djokovic broke to seize the opening set then broke Struff's serve in successive games bursting out to a 3-1 second-set lead en route to his 20th consecutive victory following title runs at Belgrade, Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Continuing his quest to make history as the first man to win the calendar Golden Grand Slam—and join Steffi Graf as just the second player in history to attain that magical feat—Djokovic improved to 36-3 on the season.
Next up for Djokovic is a third-round encounter with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. The 16th-seeded Spaniard stopped John Millman 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3.
On a day in which three Top 10 women's seeds—third-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, sixth-seeded Iga Swiatek and 10th-seeded Petra Kvitova—all failed to survive the second round, men's seeds were largely in effective form.
Fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev dismissed Colombia’s Daniel Elahi Galan 6-2, 6-2 setting up a third-round match vs. Nikoloz Basilashvili, who upset 13th-seeded Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Zverev zapped 13 more winners—17 to 3—in a clean 70-minute victory.
“I played well, and I felt quite good on court, but I know the matches and opponents get tougher from now,” Zverev said. “I’ve got to play the same way and maybe compete even better. Some of the guys won’t let me play as well. That’s what the top guys do – they always find a way to disturb your rhythm a little bit. But yeah, today I had a good rhythm.
“Maybe he was a bit nervous, came out and didn’t know what to expect too much. From the first point on I thought—and this is the most important for me—I need to focus on myself. I know that I have quite a big game, I know I can hit winners, I can overpower people, and when I’m doing that, things work out well for me.”
Fresh off his run to his first ATP 500-level title in Hamburg, Pablo Carreno Busta beat 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
The sixth-seeded Spaniard faces German Dominik Koepfer in round three with the winner of that match playing either Medvedev or Fognini in the quarterfinals.