Daniil Medvedev edges closer towards top world ranking with latest Miami Open victory
- Planet Sport writer
- 28 March 2022
World number two Daniil Medvedev booked his place in the fourth of the Miami Open with a victory over Pedro Martinez.
The Russian recently lost his world number one status following an early exit at Indian Wells, but he could return to the peak of the ATP rankings should he make the semi-finals of the Miami Open.
The 26-year-old is certainly on the right track, having picked up a 6-3 6-4 victory over Spaniard Martinez in just under 90 minutes.
Medvedev was near-unstoppable on his own serve in the opening set after dropping just four points. Despite this, it took an eighth game break for the Russian to finally take the lead.
In the second set, Martinez responded and broke his opponent for the first time in the match to make it 2-2. However, Medvedev was in no mood for comebacks as he stamped his authority in the latter stages of the set and won eight straight points to seal the victory.
Speaking after the match, the former world number one gave credit to his opponent telling Amazon Prime: "I think in general I played not so bad.
"Really slow courts here so playing against a Spanish (opponent) is not easy. I felt like we had a lot of rallies where he was bringing the pace down and I couldn't really do much.
"So I tried to serve well, to keep consistent, and I managed to do less errors in important points, and I think that was the key today."
Medvedev's next opponent is American Jenson Brooksby. The 21-year-old also enjoyed success against a Spaniard as he beat 15th seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3 5-7 6-4.
Alexander Zverev is also through to the next round following his 2-0 win over American Mackenzie McDonald.
It took the German just one hour and 14 minutes to complete his comprehensive 6-2 6-2 victory.
Tenth seed Hubert Hurkacz will join his fellow seeds in the fourth round as the big Pole prevailed in his clash with Aslan Karatsev, winning 5-7 6-4 3-6.
