Daniil Medvedev continued his strong start to his US Open title defence after a routine second-round win over France's Arthur Rinderknech 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 in the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday.
After an inconsistent run-up to Flushing Meadows, Medvedev gained momentum after his straight-sets win over Stefan Kozlov in the first round on Monday and picked up where he left off against Rinderknech.
"In general, I'm happy with my level in the third set," Medvedev, 26, told reporters. "At the end of the match it was getting better and better.
"At the same time, a win is the most important. Try to get out as early as possible even if it is pretty late. Looking forward to the next round."
Medvedev frustrated Rinderknech with his flawless shot placement and pounced on the Frenchman's serve to keep him pinned back on the baseline, while also saving all three break points he faced as he controlled the contest from the start.
The Russian capitalised on several unforced errors from Rinderknech to easily clinch the opening set and although he faced greater resistance from the world number 58 in the second, he was able to break through and prevent a tiebreak.
Medvedev dictated play with penetrating groundstrokes and got the crucial break in the third set by claiming the fifth game, before racing to victory in two hours and 11 minutes as the clock ticked past midnight in New York.
"It's not so easy to play when you start at 10pm," said Medvedev, whose match began after Serena Williams beat Anett Kontaveit in three sets. "I had some experience, so I was ready. I tried to find a way to play my best tennis. That's for sure what happened in the first set."
"Arthur was a little bit slow, made some double faults and some unforced errors. Then I managed to keep the momentum going."
Medvedev, who won his maiden Grand Slam title a year ago, has now won 20 of his last 22 matches at the year's final major. He is bidding to become the first men's player to clinch consecutive US Open crowns since Swiss great Roger Federer swept the tournament each year between 2004 and 2008.
Awaiting Medvedev in the third round will be Wu Yibing, who became the first Chinese man to reach the third round at Flushing Meadows after beating fellow qualifier Nuno Borges of Portugal 6-7, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
"He seems to play great," Medvedev said of Wu. "I'm expecting a tough match and will need to be at my best."
Nick Kyrgios joined Medvedev in the third round after powering past Benjamin Bonzi with a hard fought 7-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win over the Frenchman.
The big-serving Kyrgios struck 30 aces and won the final nine points of the match to end the punishing affair under the lights at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
"His level today was incredible, I was not expecting an absolute war," Kyrgios said in an on-court interview. "That could have gone either way. He was up a break early in the fourth but I played some really risky tennis late in the fourth set to win. I'm just happy to get through."
In their first career meeting, Kyrgios unleashed some spectacular shotmaking in the tiebreak and rode an early break in the second set to take a 2-0 lead.
Bonzi responded by taking the third set and a decider appeared all but inevitable when Kyrgios trailed Love-40 while serving at 4-4 in the fourth.
"My mentality was I'm probably going to get broken. I was almost gearing myself up for a fifth set," Kyrgios told reporters. "In those moments I just played really low percentage. I just kind of hit a dropshot here, hit the forehand cross-court, faked him out with the underarm... it got me out of jail."
After serving his way out of trouble he sealed the match by breaking serve for a fourth time when Bonzi, who made some acrobatic dives for balls during the match, was unable to will his shot over the net on match point.
The win sets up a third-round meeting with American JJ Wolf, who battled past Alejandro Tabilo 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 earlier in the day, and keeps alive the potential for a showdown with Medvedev in the fourth round.
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Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
MATCH INFO
Liverpool 3
Sadio Man 28'
Andrew Robertson 34'
Diogo Jota 88'
Arsenal 1
Lacazette 25'
Man of the match
Sadio Mane (Liverpool)
Pad Man
Dir: R Balki
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte
Three-and-a-half stars
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
Ibrahim's play list
Completed an electrical diploma at the Adnoc Technical Institute
Works as a public relations officer with Adnoc
Apart from the piano, he plays the accordion, oud and guitar
His favourite composer is Johann Sebastian Bach
Also enjoys listening to Mozart
Likes all genres of music including Arabic music and jazz
Enjoys rock groups Scorpions and Metallica
Other musicians he likes are Syrian-American pianist Malek Jandali and Lebanese oud player Rabih Abou Khalil
