Defending Champion Daniil Medvedev of Russia advanced to the fourth round of the ongoing US Open 2022 after defeating China’s Wu Yibing in his third-round match in the men’s singles category on Friday. The top seed won 6-4 6-2 6-2 to set up a round-of-16 clash against Australia’s Nick Kyrgios. The match lasted one hour and 55 minutes.
After winning a 35-shot rally, the longest in the tournament so far in the final game of the second set, he finished the third set with a bang to win the match within just three sets, not giving his opponent a chance to make the slightest comeback. The Russian will keep his World Number 1 ranking on the line against Kyrgios, who had defeated Medvedev at ATP Masters 1000 event in Canada to extend his head-to-head lead against him to 3-1. If he falls to Kyrgios, he will lose his World Number one crown. He is currently behind Rafael Nadal in ATP Live Rankings.
“We have played great matches. I think all have been quite tight on the scoreboard. It is 3-1 to him but I will try to do better this time and it will be a great match for people to watch. Tonight I feel like I played at a quite high level and I was serving a little better than him, which was the key. There were a lot of tight games and I felt the level of the match was high,” ATP quoted Medvedev as saying. Kyrgios advanced to the fourth round on Friday as well with a focused effort against American JJ Wolf.
The Aussie emerged victorious in the match by 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. Wolf did test his opponent despite the scoreline reading overwhelmingly in favour of Kyrgios. The match lasted one hour, 54 minutes. “It was a very tough match for me. I knew J.J. is a home crowd favourite, I knew I had to be on my guns today and serve well. I am just really happy to move forward,” Kyrgios said after his match.
Kyrgios has moved up three places this week to World number 22 in the ATP Rankings this week. If he advances to the quarterfinals, he will return to the top 20 for the first time since February 2020. The Canberra native is moving on a path towards becoming number one in his country, a status currently held by Alex de Minaur, who is at number 19 in ATP Live Rankings.
“I am doing it (winning) for my team as well, we have all been away from home for a while. I am just playing for a lot of people back home,” Kyrgios said. (ANI)
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