Former world number one Daniil Medvedev of Russia paid the price for an early meltdown as he stumbled out of the French Open with a 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 1-6, 7-5 first-round defeat by Britain’s Cameron Norrie on Tuesday.
Medvedev’s composure disintegrated as he surrendered eight consecutive games after opening a 3-1 lead in the first set, his frustration boiling over in a series of animated gestures towards his bewildered coaching team.
With the vocal support of the Simonne Matthieu court crowd, however, the 2021 U.S. Open champion found his groove despite the windy conditions to win the third set and bag the fourth easily after claiming a remarkable 16 consecutive points.
Norrie, who reached the semifinals at the Geneva Open last week, was out of ideas on how to outwit the elastic Medvedev, who broke for 2-1 in the decider with a lightning-fast passing shot.
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The Briton, however, found the resources to break back before wrapping up victory on his first match point to hand 11th seed Medvedev his sixth first-round loss at Roland Garros.
“It was a great atmosphere, I felt a lot of energy. It was a crazy match, I deserve a diploma for beating him since he beat me the last four, five times,” said Norrie, who entered the match with a 0-4 win-loss record against the Russian.
“I’ve been getting better week by week on clay.”
Next up for Norrie is Argentine lucky loser Federico Gomez
Draper rallies past Bellucci into French Open second round
British fifth seed Jack Draper came from a set down to reach the second round of the French Open for the first time on Tuesday.
Draper won through 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 against Italy’s 68th-ranked Mattia Bellucci in two hours 25 minutes on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
The 23-year-old advances to the second round on the clay courts of Roland Garros for the first time on his third appearance.
Draper, a semifinalist at the US Open last year, will next play either France’s Gael Monfils or Hugo Dellien of Bolivia for a place in the third round.
(inputs from AFP)
Content Source: sportstar.thehindu.com