Daniil Medvedev began his Nitto ATP Finals campaign with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Andrey Rublev in Turin.
After a tough opening set, Medvedev proved too consistent for Rublev in the second set as he began the Red Group with a victory.
Medvedev will now face Alexander Zverev on Wednesday after the German defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the other match.
In the first set, Medvedev was on the front-foot from the very start of the match as he created four break points in the opening two return games.
However Rublev responded in emphatic fashion by extending the rallies and remaining errors as he exposed Medvedev’s passive return position.
Neither player was afraid to come into the net as it was a battle between who made the most tactical and technical errors.
In the end it was Rublev who blinked first as Medvedev’s mixture of depth and power was too much for the world number five as a wild forehand volley missed it’s target. 4-3 Medvedev.
After losing his serve, Rublev woke up on returning as he started to dictate play and force Medvedev into tactical errors of his own.
Rublev’s frustration grew as he failed to convert three break points in the eighth game and turned that frustration into making Medvedev serve for the opening set.
A long tenth game followed with both men committing a mixture of simple errors as well as world-class tennis from the baseline.
In the end Medvedev prevailed as he saved four break points in a 12 minute game as a Rublev forehand unforced error sealed the opening set for the former champion in 55 minutes.
If that wasn’t frustrating enough for Rublev, than the start of the second set would definitely boil his blood as he conceded the break in the opening game that lasted seven minutes.
Medvedev backed up his break with authority and continued to extend the rallies to frustrate Rublev.
The world number five did everything in his power in terms of getting back into the match including diving at volleys.
However too many errors from Rublev meant Medvedev secured a double break lead at 4-1 as Rublev showed no hesitation in showing his emotions at the change of ends.
Medvedev had no problems closing out the match to love as he began his ATP Finals campaign with victory.
Next up for Medvedev is Alexander Zverev on Wednesday while Rublev takes on former world number one, Carlos Alcaraz.
