Daniil Medvedev beats Alexander Bublik, claims maiden French Open match-win
World number two Daniil Medvedev eased past Alexander Bublik to claim his first victory in the 2021 Roland Garros. Medvedev handed the latter a straight-set defeat (6-3, 6-3, 7-5) in the first round that spanned for nearly two hours. This is his first-ever match-win at the French Open. He had a win-loss record of 0-4 ahead of the first round. Here is more.
Despite entering the match as favorite, Medvedev stumbled at the start. Bublik won the first two games, having broken Medvedev's serve in the second. However, the latter bounced back, and won the set 6-3. Medvedev carried the momentum in the second set, thereby wrapping it up with ease. Although Bublik gained a 4-3 lead in the third set, Medvedev ended up winning 7-5.
As stated, the second seed, Medvedev, has won his maiden match at the Roland Garros. Before this match, he had been knocked out in the first round on four occasions (2017-2020). Meanwhile, the Russian produced his second victory over Bublik. He now leads the ATP head-to-head record by 2-0. Notably, Medvedev is now 19-5 in the ongoing season.
Bublik suffered his 14th defeat of the season. He last lost to Marin Cilic at the Italian Open, earlier this month. In February, he finished as the runner-up of the Singapore Open, having lost the final to Alexei Popyrin.
Medvedev entered the match with a 1-3 record on clay this year. His sole clay-court victory came against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at the Madrid Open. He now has an overall win-loss record of 12-20 on clay. After staging a one-sided win over Bublik, the former will now face either Tommy Paul or Christopher O'Connell in the second round.
