Surprise from Medvedev, Rublev's confidence and Khachanov's best match: how the Russians made it to the 1/8 finals of Roland Garros

In Paris, the Roland Garros continues successfully for the Russians.

For the fifth time in history, three domestic tennis players reached the 1/8 finals of the Grand Slam tournament at once.

Andrey Rublev, Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov made it to the fourth round.

Everything is going well in the women's part of the competition.

Veronika Kudermetova and Daria Kasatkina continue to fight for the trophy.

At the same time, only Iga Sviontek can win the “salad bowl” from the top 10 of the world ranking.

Test of strength

A couple of weeks before Roland Garros, sports doctor Eduard Bezuglov, talking about Daniil Medvedev's operation, did not rule out that the Russian had no hernia, and a pause in the competition could turn out to be a tactical move by the tennis team.

In support of his hypothesis, he cited football and hockey, where the diagnoses of athletes are rarely mentioned.

It is possible that this assumption was correct, and instead of surgical intervention, everything was limited to easier procedures.

Otherwise, it is difficult to explain how the second racket of the world manages to play so confidently at the French Open.

He made it to the 1/8 finals of the tournament, not giving up a single set in three meetings.

Without any problems, Daniil defeated the Argentinean Facundo Bagnis, who occupies the 103rd line of the ATP rating, as well as the Serbian Laszlo Jere (62nd place).

Moreover, the latter is considered a good player on the ground.

However, the meeting of the third round with Miomir Ketsmanovich was supposed to be a real test of strength for Medvedev and answer the question of how much his relationship with his unloved surface had changed over the year.

The answer turned out to be unequivocal: Daniil noticeably added.

In the match with the Serb, the Russian played well and tightly on the back line and coped with the 31st racket of the world without any problems.

The struggle turned out only at the beginning, when Medvedev gave six points in a row, but then he played out, and then the advantage of the tennis player was not in doubt.

The meeting ended with the score 6:2, 6:4, 6:2.

At the same time, the first serve of the second racket of the world is gradually getting better.

If in the opening match he had only 52% of hits, then in the confrontation with Kecmanovic it was already 71%.

And in combination with a confident game and a successful grid, the athlete becomes one of the main contenders for participation in the Roland Garros final.

In the next round, Daniil meets with Croatian Mario Cilic, then a quarterfinal with Andrey Rublev is possible and a confrontation with the Greek Stefan Tsitsipas, who can be called a convenient opponent for the Russian.

He has won seven head-to-head matches out of nine.

Fighting nerves

Andrei Rublev began Roland Garros with an unpleasant incident in the game with Kwon Seong Wu. The Russian lost the first game, losing to the Korean in a tie-break, and decided to “let off steam” by sending the ball to a billboard, but did not notice the person standing there.

A cap flew off the court worker.

The tennis player was even fined $8,000 for the incident.

However, in general, the seventh racket of the world is still coping with emotions.

As a result, Rublev outplayed Kwon Sung Wu quite easily, and then the match with the Argentinean Frederico Delbonis took place according to a similar scenario.

Andrey this time gave the second set, but in the rest he was stronger than his opponent - he acted more confidently and stably.

In the third round, Rublev got the Chilean Kristian Garin.

And this meeting has already made the Russian fans nervous.

The tennis player again gave the second game, but confidently took the first and third.

It seemed that in the fourth he would also have no problems, because the opponent began to make many mistakes and looked tired.

But the impression was deceiving.

The Chilean was not going to give up and even more fiercely clung to the balls.

As a result, he led 3-0, but Rublev did not fall apart and managed to seize the initiative.

The first serve, which finally went to the Russian, had a significant impact on the result: he won two games “under zero”.  

In the end, Andrey earned a double match point, but did not convert it.

The fate of the game was decided in a tie-break, which turned out to be very stubborn.

Garin had five set points at once, but he did not use any of them.

The Russian, on the other hand, won on the second attempt - 13:11.

In the next round, Rublev will face the 12th world number, Italian Yannick Sinner.

Best match on clay

A difficult match turned out for Karen Khachanov.

He, like Rublev, still needs four sets to cope with opponents.

In the first two rounds, the Portuguese Nuno Borges and the Bolivian Hugo Delien were easily beaten.

However, in the third round, the Russian's opponent was the 10th seed Cameron Norrie.

The Briton had a bright last season: he reached the finals of nine ATP tournaments at once, winning four of them.

At the same time, the tennis player cannot yet boast of high results at the Majors, he has not gone beyond the third round in any of them.

Khachanov has warmer relations with Roland Garros.

In 2019, he played in the quarterfinals.

And although at the start of the season the Russian did not look the best, it was for the French Open that he finally got in shape. 

In the match with Norrie, the tennis player had to show his best qualities.

The first set was left for Karen - 6:2.

However, it wasn't as easy as it looks.

Khachanov played eight break points at once.

Moreover, they all fell on two games in which the Russian was inferior 0:40.

Use Norrie at least one of your chances, the game could have gone completely differently.

But Karen was very collected in key draws, while the Brit was wrong.

The second party began according to the same scenario.

However, Norrie then seized the initiative.

Khachanov himself helped the opponent to feel confident: the athlete began to make unforced errors.

And if in the second set Karen managed to keep the earned advantage, then the third was left for the Briton.

Norrie's strength was not enough for the fourth batch.

He again tried to turn the game around, taking three games in a row from a 2-4 score.

But this was his last success.

Then Karen controlled the course of the meeting and put a confident end to the match, winning the last game "at zero".

As the head of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpishchev noted, Khachanov had one of the best matches on clay in the last two years.

But you can’t stop there, you need to add more, because in the fourth round Karen is waiting for one of the main favorites of the tournament?

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz.

Personal records

Pleased with their performances at Roland Garros and Veronika Kudermetova with Daria Kasatkina.

Both were also able to break into the fourth round of the tournament.

The 20th racket of the world had an opponent not the most stellar - the American Shelby Rogers, who occupies the 50th place in the WTA ranking.

Although she managed to make a surprise by knocking out her compatriot Danielle Collins from the fight.

But in the case of the Russian woman, there were no surprises.

Having gained excellent shape, Kasatkina confidently won in two sets 6:3, 6:2 and for the first time since 2018 she was able to overcome the third round.

Then she reached the quarterfinals, showing her best result at Roland Garros.

This time she has a good chance to repeat the success.

In the next round, the Russian woman will play with the Italian Camila Giorgi, who defeated Arina Sobolenko.

Veronica Kudermetova had a much more serious rival - the fourth racket of the world, Paula Bados.

However, the Spaniard, having lost in the first set, did not continue the second, withdrawing from the competition due to injury.

And the Russian woman, thus, showed the best result in the Grand Slam tournaments.

Previously, she did not go beyond the third round.

It is interesting that after the removal of Badosa, the only tennis player from the Top 10 of the world ranking who continues to fight for the trophy remains the leader of the world ranking, Iga Sviontek.