Third seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia beat Lorenzo Sonego of Italy 7-6 2-1 in a first-round match at the Adelaide International 1, as the latter retired after putting up a good show in the first set. The match turned out to be a bit anti-climactic in the end, as an injury to his right arm forced the 27-year-old Italian out.
Medvedev will face Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia in the second round on Wednesday. On that note, we will take a look at two keys to the match:
Two keys to Daniil Medvedev’s win over Lorenzo Sonego
#1. Sonego kept playing drop shots one after another in the first set:
Medvedev typically stood well behind the baseline while returning in the first set. Sensing the deep court-position of the Russian, Sonego started playing drop shots frequently in the first set to make his opponent travel a long distance. The Italian then came up with volley winners to keep the pressure on the Russian.
However, that does not mean that Sonego did not hit any winner from the baseline. His powerful forehand won him a few points from the deep as Medvedev also hit a few winners off his backhand. The first set went into a tie-break after both the players succeeded in holding their serve throughout it.
The stiff competition continued in the tie-break as well, as the 26-year-old Russian managed to keep his nose ahead to win it 8-6.
#2. Medvedev did not have to toil hard as Sonego’s injury ended the match abruptly:
Medvedev, to his credit, remained solid throughout the match and did not commit too many mistakes. However, the Russian mostly wanted to prolong the baseline exchanges, as Sonego would have found it difficult to match him stroke for stroke from the baseline.
Both players held their serve for the first three games of the second set. However, Sonego found it difficult to serve in the fourth game of the set and also hit a few of his serves wide. The Italian had to retire hurt in the end to mark an end to the match that was disappointing to the spectators.
Main Photo from Getty.
