Daniil Medvedev and Rafael Nadal on Wednesday had comfortable wins at the Mexican Open, and a rematch of their epic five-set final at the Australian Open appears to be on the horizon.
Medvedev took another step toward top spot in the ATP rankings with a dominant 6-1, 6-2 second-round victory over Pablo Andujar, while Nadal was rarely troubled by Stefan Kozlov, winning 6-0, 6-3.
Medvedev is to play Yoshihito Nishioka in the quarter-finals early this morning Taiwan time, while Nadal is to play Tommy Paul.
Photo: Reuters
With wins there, the two players would meet in the semi-finals less than a month after the Spaniard rallied to win the final in Melbourne for his record 21st Grand Slam singles title.
Paul advanced to the quarter-finals with a 7-6 (8/6), 2-6, 7-5 win over Dusan Lajovic, while Nishioka progressed after rallying to beat Taylor Fritz 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
The 26-year-old Medvedev is trying to replace Novak Djokovic atop the rankings and could achieve that goal if he wins the title in Acapulco.
Photo: AP
He needed just over an hour to beat Andujar the morning after defending champion Alexander Zverev was thrown out of the Mexican Open for violently smashing his racket on the umpire’s chair moments after losing a doubles match.
“If I do it it’s going to mean a lot, there would be a lot of statistics mentioned, since when this or since when that,” Medvedev said of potentially becoming the top-ranked men’s singles player. “It’s going to be fun, but first I have to achieve it, it’s my main goal to win as many matches as possible in the next few weeks.”
Nadal, who has won three times in Acapulco, has a 12-0 record this year so far and needed 1 hour, 16 minutes to beat Kozlov, who entered the draw as a lucky loser.
Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated J.J. Wolf 6-1, 6-0 to set up a match against Marcos Giron, who beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-7 (7/9), 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), while Cameron Norrie beat John Isner 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-4 and is to play Peter Gojowczyk, who entered the draw as a lucky loser and qualified for the quarter-finals without playing after Zverev was thrown out of the tournament.
“I have a good relationship with Alexander and at the end of the day I’m not going to say something different to him, I think he deserves the penalty because you cannot act that way on the court,” Nadal said of Zverev. “I hope it’s a learning experience for him and for other young players who lose their nerves.”
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