SHANGHAI (WS News) – Both Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas served sweet revenge at the Shanghai Masters on Friday, vanquishing old foes in straight sets as they progressed through to the third round.
World number five Medvedev came from behind in both sets to beat Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild 7-5, 7-5, while Tsitsipas battled through a tight match against Japan’s Kei Nishikori to win 7-6 (8/6), 6-4.
Medvedev and Seyboth Wild have only met once before, but it was memorable.
The Russian, then world number two, was unceremoniously ejected from the 2023 French Open by qualifier Seyboth Wild in the first round.
The tenacious Brazilian did not make it easy for Medvedev on Friday, setting the tone by breaking first to pull 1-3 ahead.
But Medvedev persevered, making up the gap and then getting a crucial break in the 11th game, before winning the set 7-5.
Seyboth Wild pulled ahead early in the second set too, but again Medvedev caught him and repeated his earlier feat.
“It was not easy,” Medvedev said on court after the match. “Thiago played great… some shots were unbelievable.”
“It was a very tough night and I’m very glad I was able to stay in it… and give him pressure.”
‘FIGHTING SPIRIT’
Tsitsipas — who suffered a shock defeat to Nishikori in Montreal in August — said he was happy with his own “great fighting spirit”.
The Greek, once ranked third in the world, has slipped out of the ATP top 10 in recent months to now stand at 12th.
The loss in August to Nishikori, who is a former world number four but was ranked 576th at the beginning of the Montreal tournament, was followed swiftly by Tsitsipas dropping his father as coach after publicly criticising him.
“I did want to put out a fight and I wanted to show that I can go out there and play a good match against (Nishikori),” the 26-year-old said Friday.
The match was closely fought, with the first set ending with a nail-biting tiebreaker that could have gone either way.
“Being able to win (the tiebreaker), coming back and helping me win the first set was an important and critical moment,” Tsitsipas told reporters after the match.
“Overcoming it was good, because it felt like I was able to restart now with a new mindset and it helped me get a bit of confidence.”
In the second set, 34-year-old Nishikori, who has been plagued in recent seasons by injury, required a medical time-out.
Despite encouragement from the crowd, he never recovered his momentum and Tsitsipas won four of the last five games to close out the match.
RUUD EXIT
There was one upset late Friday, when world number nine Casper Ruud was defeated by 91st ranked Australian Aleksandar Vukic in straight sets.
The loss comes on the heels of another early exit for the Norwegian at the Japan Open in late September.
Vukic said he was “very proud”.
“It was always going to be a very tough match, but I’m playing well so I didn’t really want to change much, just stick to my game plan,” the 28-year-old said.
“I was very nervous, which is normal… I tried to get it out of my system, grunted a little more,” he laughed.
Earlier in the day, Americans Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul booked places in the third round without too much trouble.
Shelton beat Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 7-5, while Paul took out Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-3.
Veteran Frenchman Gael Monfils will face compatriot Ugo Humbert in the next round, after his victory over Argentina’s Sebastian Baez.
The 38-year-old Monfils fought off his 23-year-old opponent 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
