In the next round, the 26-year-old Russian will face Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech (58th).

Medvedev won his first Major in New York last year by beating Novak Djokovic in the final, thus depriving the Serb of a Grand Slam.

Then he continued with a lost final at the Australian Open in January against Rafael Nadal.

At Roland-Garros, his least successful Major, Medvedev lost this year in the round of 16 and he did not play at Wimbledon, the grass-court tournament having refused Russian and Belarusian players in retaliation for the war in Ukraine. .

On Monday, for the first match of the US Open on the huge Arthur-Ashe court, Medvedev took his revenge on a player who had beaten him in their only previous confrontation, in juniors.

"In juniors he was unplayable. I'm two years older than him, a normally insurmountable age difference in juniors, but he crushed me. I'm glad I got my revenge," commented Medvedev , happy to have been able to rely on his huge serve (10 aces and a success of 76% on the points played on his first ball).

The Russian also had 40 winners for 20 unforced errors.

"The conditions were not easy, with this heat and humidity," he admitted.

© 2022 AFP