Brisbane, Jan 7 (IANS) Top seed Daniil Medvedev swept past former world No. 10 Frances Tiafoe on Wednesday, reaching the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International. On the heels of a convincing first-round win over Marton Fucsovics, the 29-year-old Russian delivered a clinical hour of tennis and secured a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Medvedev hit 21 winners, including nine aces, almost double his opponent’s. He won 91 per cent of first-serve points and never faced a break point.
“The court is pretty fast, so you need to serve well and I’m happy with how I served. I feel like it was better than the first round. From the first point it puts a lot of pressure on your opponent, got a couple of good games on his serve. It was enough today, that’s how tennis is sometimes," Medvedev said.
Meanwhile, reigning champion Jiri Lehecka had to retire due to a right ankle injury while trailing 3-6, 2-1 against American Sebastian Korda.
Lehecka’s injury retirement pitted Korda against Alex Michelsen in the quarterfinals, who had earlier beaten eighth seed Learner Tien, to set up an all-American clash.
Elsewhere, fourth seed Jessica Pegula got her season underway with a victory, defeating Anna Kalinskaya 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 to reach the third round in Brisbane.
Pegula improved the head-to-head to 4-1 after twice rebounding from a break down in the deciding set.
"I can't believe I played Anna first match of the year. We’ve had so many long intense crazy matches last year, so it was a real test for me today, especially having a bye the first round, not having any matches under me,” Pegula said.
“I knew it was going to be tough, she’s such a great player. She can really take the racquet out of your hand, change the direction of the ball so well, so I kind of figured out just in time and competed really well, maybe got a little lucky here and there too," she added.
--IANS
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