Medvedev master Murray to cruise through in Miami
Daniil Medvedev made relatively light work of former Miami Open champion Andy Murray in their second round clash on Sunday (AEDT), winning 6-4 6-2 in less than 90 minutes.
The Russian is seeking to regain the world No.1 spot he lost after just a week at the top, and will need to reach the semi-finals in Florida if he is to tick off that milestone. He'll face Spain's Pedro Martinez in the third round.
Murray recently announced that Ivan Lendl would be rejoining his team as a coach, and the former world No.1 was in the Briton's box at Hard Rock Stadium to oversee this defeat.
Murray showed some signs of the play to took him to the top of the world rankings before injuries curtailed his career, and while he received the majority of the support in the crowd, Medvedev proved too solid from the baseline and on serve for the wildcard to overcome.
Medvedev did not face a break point on his way to victory and noted that his strong performance on serve had certainly helped him ease past Murray.
"On the days when you serve good, your opponent doesn’t have this freedom to return, it helps you," Medvedev said. "[In the] second set, the scoreline was easier, it was much tougher in the beginning, but when your opponent knows you’re probably going to get some aces and it’s not going to be easy for him to return, he gets pressure on his serve and many times that is what happens in close matches.”
Medvedev’s clash with Martinez will be the pair’s second meeting. The world No.2 won in straight sets at the Australian Open in 2020, but Martinez has since climbed to No.47 and picked up a first ATP title in Santiago in February.
Martinez earned his place in the third round after beating No.27 seed Cristian Garin 7-6 6-2 earlier on Sunday (AEDT) to reach the third round in Miami for the first time.
