Wimbledon: Daniil Medvedev overcomes Marton Fucsovics in entertaining four-set clash, reaches R16

London [UK]: The World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev overcame a spirited early battle from Hungarian powerhouse Marton Fucsovics to move to the fourth round of the ongoing Wimbledon 2023 on Saturday.

Medvedev next plays the winner of 16th seed Tommy Paul and 21-year-old Czech Jiri Lehecka. The third seed, who has won five titles and leads the tour with 44 match wins, advanced to the second week of a major for the first time this year with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory in three hours and four minutes.

Under a closed roof on No. 1 Court, both players delighted enthusiastic fans with a range of power hitting, inventive shot-making, drop shots, athletic court coverage and regular forays to the net in one of the most entertaining matches of the tournament to date.

Fucsovics took the fight to Medvedev early, erasing two break points in his opening service game before aggressive returning underpinned his break of Medvedev to go ahead 2-1, a lead he did not relinquish en route to claiming the first set.

With solid net approaches and well-timed serve/volley moves, Fucsovics took advantage of Medvedev’s deep-court return and rally positions. Although he was aggressive on returns, Medvedev struggled to score winners due to his deeper rally position, which also caused him to commit a lot of unforced errors (10 in the first set alone).

The imposing 31-year-old World No. 67, whose credo is “every day, gym day,” suffered the price for an unexpected lull in effort after the opening set. The World No. 3 started to control the baseline exchanges and had better success defending his second serve, even though Medvedev was still making uncharacteristic unforced errors. In the opening set, he only prevailed in three of ten second-serve points.

“He’s a very tough player to play against and after the first set I was more decisive in some points and saved a couple of break points on my serve. I’m really happy to be through,” ATP.com quoted Medvedev as saying.

“I really want to do well here. I wasn’t playing here last year and it’s my worst Grand Slam in terms of results. I have a big motivation to change that. The further you go, the tougher the opponents. I hope that I can show my best tennis and enjoy,” the World No. 3 added.