Medvedev regroups to survive Medjedovic scare, Baez upsets Rune in Rome

Defending champion Daniil Medvedev dug deep to overcome a brilliant performance from Hamad Medjedovic on Monday at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia. The second seed denied the upset bid from the 2023 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF champion with a rock-solid third-set performance that netted a 7-6(5), 2-6, 7-5 victory.

"I felt like I started the match well and then in a way it was only going downhill," the second seed said after his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with his near-namesake. "My serve was not there, my shots were not aggressive enough when I needed to. Because many times I would like to play the rhythm I played, but I would also like from time to time to surprise my opponent with some good shots. Today I was not able to do it.

"At one moment in the match, I thought what I was doing would not be enough to win the match. So I'm happy that even by playing not my best I could win. Tomorrow I'm going to try to find my best tennis."

MEDVEDEV THE FIGHTER 🤯

The defending Rome champion reaches the Round of 16 at all 5 Masters 1000 events this season! @InteBNLdItalia | #IBI24 pic.twitter.com/OchgGjBw69

— ATP Tour (@atptour) May 13, 2024

One year after his surprise title run at the ATP Masters 1000, his first clay crown on the ATP Tour, Medvedev is seeking to defend a tour-level title for the first time this week.

After an up-and-down opening two sets in which he hit 10 double faults, Medvedev went into lockdown mode from the baseline to take a 4-1 lead without making an unforced error in the decider. But the Serbian, who hit 41 winners and 66 unforced errors, found the range on his powerful forehand to charge back to 4-4 and create a 0/30 opening in the ninth game.

Once again, Medvedev leaned on his metronomic baseline game to turn the tide, playing to his opponent's backhand at every opportunity. Cutting a reserved figure throughout the match, Medvedev maintained that composed approach to break in the match's final game, repelling an approach from the typically attack-minded Medjedovic to end the match after two hours, 50 minutes.

Perhaps as a sarcastic review of his own game, Medvedev wrote "Way too aggressive" on the camera lens post-match. He finished with 18 winners, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

The victory means Medvedev has now reached the last 16 at all five ATP Masters 1000 played in 2024, joining Alexander Zverev with that distinction. He will next meet 14th seed Tommy Paul, who beat Dominik Koepfer 6-4, 6-4 earlier on Monday.

The 20-year-old Medjedovic was playing in his first Masters 1000 third round and facing a Top 10 opponent in the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time. He was bidding to become the first Serbian to record a Top 5 win this season.

Also on Monday evening, Sebastian Baez stormed back from behind to score a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 upset against 10th seed Holger Rune. The Argentine is through to his first Masters 1000 fourth round after picking up his tour-leading 17th clay win this season, with that number matching his Rome seed.

The win against World No. 12 Rune is Baez's third Top 10 victory after clay-court upsets against Cristian Garin (Cordoba) and Andrey Rublev (Bastad) in 2022. Baez also extended Rune's losing streak against Argentines to seven matches, a run that began with a defeat to Baez in 2022 in Buenos Aires.

Having entered Rome at a career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 19, Baez could move higher with another upset against Hubert Hurkacz in the fourth round. The seventh-seeded Pole defeated Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-6(7), 6-2 to advance to the last 16.