Daniil Medvedev suffered no letdown on Saturday in his first match since claiming the US Open title.
The World No. 2 beat Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-0 to give Team Europe a 9-1 lead over Team World in the Laver Cup. The top-ranked player in the event broke serve four times and needed just 75 minutes to triumph inside TD Garden.
“I played unbelievably, especially [in] the second set,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview. “I didn’t know what to expect because after the US Open, I didn’t play for a week and a half. Came here, practised as much as I could the past three days, so I didn’t hit [that] many balls, but was surprisingly feeling well.
“I wanted to show that also today. [The] first [set] was not easy, the ball was not going as fast as I wanted [and] he was playing really good. And then I just couldn’t miss a ball anymore. I’m really happy about [that].”
Body on the line. @DaniilMedwed claims another two points for Team Europe with a 6-4 6-0 win over Denis Shapovalov. #LaverCup pic.twitter.com/T5ipYaMHmG
— Laver Cup (@LaverCup) September 26, 2021
Medvedev entered the match trailing Shapovalov 1-2 in their ATP Head2Head rivalry. But they had not played since Tokyo in 2018 (a Medvedev win), and the 25-year-old has since firmly established himself near the top of the sport.
The reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion left Shapovalov stunned with his precision and consistency, leaving the dynamic lefty few ideas to try to turn the match around.
At 6-4, 5-0, Shapovalov’s longtime friend and teammate, Felix Auger-Aliassime, wandered over to the Team Europe bench with his hands up in disbelief at Medvedev’s play after an impressive point. Even Shapovalov laughed as he walked to the net to shake the Russian’s hand after match point.
“I was a bit stressed coming into the match because actually every singles guy [on my team] won. So I was like, ‘If I lose, that’s not so good,'” Medvedev said. “I’m happy I managed to win.”
Team World will try to claw closer in the overall score when John Isner and Nick Kyrgios take on Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas in a doubles clash to complete the day’s play.