Kyrgios won the Washington tournament last week. That was his first tournament since losing the Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic in July.
Medvedev was the defending champion at the masters tournament. Last year, the Russian took the title in Canada by beating American Reilly Opelka in the final.
“This is the fourth time we’ve played against each other and I’ve been successful against him in the past”
Medvedev won his first title of 2022 in Mexico’s Los Cabos last week. In Montreal he had a bye in the first round and with the Australian a strong opponent in the second round. The Russian still won the first set in the tiebreak, but immediately lost his serve in the second. He couldn’t make up for that delay.
In the third set it was equal and Medvedev immediately had chances for a break. Kyrgios survived and went on to win four games in a row at 2-2.
“This is the fourth time we’ve played against each other and I’ve been successful against him in the past,” said the Australian. “But he had already beat me once. I feel like we know each other’s game well. I’m not the kind of player who looks at the ranking when he starts a game, it’s just about who I play against and what balls they give me.”
Clear plan
Kyrgios had a good plan how he wanted to play against the Russian. „I had in mind how I was going to play, a lot of serve-and-volley and aggressive play from the back. I did that better than him, that’s what it comes down to in the end. He won the first set, but I noticed that I also had opportunities. I hope I can maintain this form.”
Van de Zandschulp no chance
Botic van de Zandschulp failed to reach the third round. The best tennis player in the Netherlands had no chance on the Canadian hard court against the British Cameron Norrie. It became 6-1 6-2 for the number 11 in the world in an hour and 6 minutes.
Van de Zandschulp never managed to win the service game from the left-handed Briton in the one-sided match and gave up his service game four times. The Dutchman also noted no fewer than 24 unnecessary mistakes.
Botic of the Sand Scallop
USA TODAY Sports
The global number 25 has never played against the 26-year-old Briton, who last week was a finalist in Los Cabos in Mexico and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon a month ago.
Debut
For Van de Zandschulp it was only the first time that he was allowed to participate in Montreal. He now travels to Cincinnati, where another masters tournament will be held next week. He then participates in Winston-Salem, after which the last grand slam tournament of the year is on the program with the US Open. Last year, the Dutchman surprised in New York with a place in the quarterfinals.
Norrie now faces Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime, who defeated Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka 7-6 (6) 6-4 in front of his own audience.