Winner in Vienna last week, Daniil Medvedev waltzed as soon as he appeared on the Central de Bercy. The Russian, world No. 3, ended up cracking after the third set against the Australian De Minaur (6-4, 2-6, 7-5). This is the first big fish to disappear prematurely from Parisian waters…
The star: Carlos Alcaraz
The world No. 1 perfectly managed his debut in the Parisian Masters 1000. Even if he could have concluded the first set more easily (he had balls of 5-2 before finding himself at 4-4), the Spaniard was far too solid for the Japanese Nishioka (6-4, 6- 4). Winner of his 56th match of the season, the Murcian must nevertheless deal with a painful knee for a few weeks which had raised fears of a renunciation for the last Masters 1000 of the season.
At perf: Alex De Minaur
Finalist last year, Daniil Medvedev will not last long at the Accor Arena. The Russian, world No. 3 was taken out as soon as he entered the fray by the solid Australian Alex De Minaur with a double fault, a nice racket break and a few bittersweet words to the referee to finish… It’s the first time in his career that the Sydney native, 23 and six ATP tournaments under his belt, has beaten a member of the World Top 5. He had never succeeded in 18 attempts … “Alex did a really good job, slips Medvedev. He knew how to make the right choices. It’s never easy to follow up after a title (Editor’s note: in Vienna). I wasn’t necessarily tired, and that’s not what made the difference, nor the surface which is much slower than in Vienna where it was ten times faster than here. »
The figure: 3:30
This is the time it took Félix Auger-Aliassime to get rid of the Swedish qualifier Ymer (6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (6)). The Canadian, seeded No. 8, even trailed 4-1, 15-40 in the second set before reversing the trend. It must be said that the protege of Frédéric Fontang has not spared himself in recent weeks. FAA remains on three tournaments won in a row between Florence (ATP 250), Antwerp (ATP 250) and Basel (ATP 500). And now 14 invincibility matches…
L’image
No matter the size of the racket, Novak Djokovic is having fun in the bowels of the Accor Arena. The former world No. 1 gave a little demonstration of table tennis with ball collectors. We do not yet know if this is the ideal preparation before his round of 16 against the Russian Khachanov on Thursday.
The main results of the second round
De Minaur (Aus) b. Medvedev (RUS/No. 4) 6-4, 2-6, 7-5; Tiafoe (EU/n°16) b. Draper (GB) 6-3, 7-5; Moses (Ita) b. Basilashvili (Geo) 6-4, 6-2; Tsitsipas (Gre/n°5) b. Evans (GB) 6-3, 6-4; Alcaraz (Esp/n°1) b. Nishioka (Jap) 6-4, 6-4.
