The world’s top-ranked tennis player, Medvedev, defeated Australian qualifier Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour and 30 minutes Wednesday night, Aug. 3, at the Los Cabos hard court tournament.
“Someone told me this was going to happen, or I wouldn’t have known. I want more wins, but it’s nice to have 250,” said the world No. 1, who pocketed the 250th singles win of his career on tour.
The Russian Medvedev, deprived of Wimbledon after the decision of the organizers to ban Russians and Belarussians as a sanction after the tension in Ukraine, had not played since the tournament’s quarterfinals on the grass in Mallorca, lost to Roberto Bautista Agut on June 23.
Medvedev, faced a young player of 21 years, ranked 224th in the world, and came out of the qualifiers; he did not force his talent, managing to take once per set the service of his opponent, saving in the first game of the second set the only break point that his opponent was provided.
“The feeling wasn’t bad. I could have made more breaks, but when you win, everything goes well,” said Medvedev, who had not played a match on hard court since the Miami tournament in early April. The Russian will meet Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis (98th in the world) in the next round.
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