London: Daniil Medvedev countered a home-grown serve-and-volley barrage to reach the second-round at Wimbledon after downing Next Gen ATP Briton Arthur Fery 7-5, 6-4, 6-3, here on Wednesday.
Medvedev delivered a highly professional display against Grand Slam debutant Fery, who grew up five minutes from the All England Club, on No. 1 Court.
The World No. 3 showcased pinpoint returns from deep and was ultimately too consistent for the 20-year-old Fery, converting six of his 12 break points in a match that was interrupted for 30 minutes by rain at 5-5 in the first set.
“[I was] pretty nervous. I didn’t play here for two years and yesterday we didn’t get to play [due to rain], so it was a little bit hectic for everyone, for the supporters and the players. Back at Court 1, where I have the most wins in my Wimbledon career, so probably my favourite court so far,” said Medvedev in his on-court interview.
“[I was] really happy for the very nice welcome and especially against Arthur, who is from Britain,” he added.
With his two-hour, 11-minute victory, Medvedev set a second-round clash against Adrian Mannarino or Alexander Shevchenko. The 27-year-old is chasing his sixth tour-level title of the season this fortnight at the All England Club, where his best previous showing was a fourth-round run in 2021.
On the other hand, ninth seed Taylor Fritz finally also booked his spot in the second round on Wednesday when he overcame Yannick Hanfmann in a five-set thriller that began on Monday.
After coming off for bad light with Fritz leading 3-2 in the fifth set on Monday night, the American and his German opponent had to wait until Wednesday to complete their clash due to rain.
Competing on Court 2, Fritz came out firing upon the restart, gaining a quick break to advance 6-4, 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 after three hours and one minute.
With his 30th tour-level win of the season, Fritz avenged his defeat against Hanfmann in Rome in May. The 25-year-old, who struck 42 winners and broke the German four times, will next meet Mikael Ymer after the Swede beat Alex Molcan 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.
Meanwhile, Fritz’s countryman Frances Tiafoe also advanced, defeating China’s Wu Yibing 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-4. The 10th seed will next meet #NextGenATP Swiss Dominic Stricker or Alexei Popyrin.
Competing at The Championships for the first time since 2019, Milos Raonic made a winning return when he downed Dennis Novak 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-1.
The 32-year-old, who reached the title match at SW19 in 2016 (l. to Murray), will next meet 16th seed Tommy Paul or Shintaro Mochizuki.
Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov advanced to the second round in a rain-disrupted day, beating Japanese qualifier Sho Shimabukuro 6-1, 6-2, 6-1.
–IANS
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