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Daniil Medvedev took a sledgehammer to Sebastian Baez’s 12-match winning streak inside Arthur Ashe Stadium Saturday night, defeating the diminutive Argentine 6-2, 6-1 7-6(6) at 1:30 a.m. to power into the fourth round of the US Open.
Standing 6’6” to Baez’s 5’7”, Medvedev leveraged his decisive physical advantage and big-match experience to dominate the contest in the first two sets. He looked beyond comfortable in extended backhand-to-backhand exchanges and while Baez matched Medvedev’s forehand strikes – especially in the third set – he authored his own demise with 55 unforced errors and by converting just two of 12 break point chances.
“I felt like we were both playing well, even in the first two sets. I was just a little better on important points, everything was going my way,” Medvedev said. “Third set he raised his level just a little bit to make the match even tougher. A bit of luck and some good play from me kept me in the set and it’s good to not finish at 4 (a.m.).”
After a subdued opening two sets, Baez took the fight to Medvedev in the third, hitting bigger forehands and coming to net 17 times, nearing the 18 total net visits he made in the first two rounds.
Baez led 5-2 in the third set but his momentum was halted by a 10-minute delay for light rain. When play resumed Medvedev broke to get back on serve at 4-5, fended off one set point in the following game, and dug out of a 0/30 hole in his next service game. Baez made a number of tired unforced errors at key moments, including at 6/6 serving in the tie-break.
The former World No. 1 will now try to snap a two-match losing streak against Alex de Minaur, although he leads the Australian 4-2 overall in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
Other than dropping the third set of his second-round match, Medvedev has been in strong form in New York, shrugging off modest lead-in form in Toronto and Cincinnati, where he went 3-2 during the North American ATP Masters 1000 hard-court events. He dismissed Hungary’s Attila Balazs 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 in the first round and Christopher O’Connell 6-2, 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-2 in the second round.
Medvedev leads all players on Tour since 2018 for hard-court titles (18), finals (27) and match wins (231).
Medvedev has already won a personal-best five titles on the season, including the Miami Open and his first crown on clay, at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome. He also reached the final in Indian Wells.
World No. 32 Baez, who won his only hard-court lead-in tournament in Winston-Salem, had won 12 consecutive matches dating back to his clay-court title in Kitzbuehel.
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