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World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev started his Western & Southern Open campaign on a winning note as he defeated Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands on Tuesday.
The World No. 1 faced a tough test against the Dutch. He made a fast start behind an instant break but had to survive the second set to secure a 6-4, 7-5 victory and advance to the third round in Cincinnati. The second set of the match was hard fought, Medvedev built a lead of a set and a break but immediately surrendered his advantage as van de Zandschulp levelled at 3-3 in the second. The top seed survived thanks to an error from his opponent, then broke for the third time in the match as van de Zandschulp double-faulted three times on serve at 5-all. "The second set was not that clean," ATP.com quoted Medvedev as saying. "The first set was great. Everything was working. I had three games where I had break points but managed to break in the first game, which was enough," said Medvedev, who surrendered a break advantage and saved a set point on serve in the set. "The second set was going not that bad. He was not serving especially well today, doing a lot of double faults. So I tried to keep pressure and use my chances. Actually, in return, I feel like I did a good job. Two breaks on these fast courts are enough to win and I should have done a little bit better on my serve. But the first match is tricky and I'm happy that I managed to go through, and hopefully I will raise my level in the next matches," he added. He will next face Montreal quarter-finalist Tommy Paul or Denis Shapovalov, with a potential rematch with Kyrgios looming in the quarter-finals. On the other hand Spanish teen sensation, Carlos Alcaraz produced a dominant performance against Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 6-2 to earn his first win in his second Cincinnati appearance. "I'm really happy with the performance today. One of the goals in this tournament is to grow with the pressure... to enjoy as I did at the beginning of the year and last year. To enjoy playing great tennis, to try to be relaxed. I think in this round I did it and I'm really happy with it," Carlos Alcaraz said. (ANI)
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