Daniil Medvedev has been making up for lost time as he downed Hungary's Marton Fucsovics 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 to match his best ever showing at Wimbledon by reaching the fourth round on Saturday.
A year after being banned from playing at the All England Club following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Moscow-born Medvedev survived a wayward opening set to topple an opponent who had won their only previous meeting at a major.
When the 67th-ranked Fucsovics gave Medvedev the runaround in the opening set, with the Russian misfiring his returns time and again, visions of his 2020 Roland Garros first round win over the third seed must have flashed through his mind.
But Medvedev trampled on those dreams in the fourth game of the second set, when he broke Fucsovics to love after the Hungarian double-faulted to surrender his serve.
Playing under a closed Court One roof as the rain came down on a leafy southwest London, both players entertained the crowd with some acrobatic shot-making.
Fucsovics would have made Boris Becker proud with a couple of his diving volley winners and slam-dunk smashes, while Medvedev hit a stupendous crosscourt winner on the run after chasing down a drop shot from well behind the baseline.
Once Medvedev had taken a two-sets-to-one lead by banging down an unreturnable serve, Fucsovics needed an injury time out to get his right ankle manipulated and strapped up by the trainer.
He got back on his feet and even earned a break point in the eighth game of the fourth set. But once he missed his chance to make it 4-4, his game quickly unravelled and Medvedev reached the last 16 of a major for the first time this year by firing down an unreturnable serve.
Published 08 July 2023, 15:54 IST