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World No. 3 will next attempt to crack Baez's 12-match winning streak
Daniil Medvedev will go to bed in the wee hours of Friday morning glad that he navigated through a late-night test in the US Open second round.

The third seed defeated Australian Christopher O’Connell 6-2, 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-2 to capture his 250th hard-court victory and reach the third round of the season’s final major, where he was crowned champion in 2021. Medvedev had two match points at 6/4 in the third-set tie-break before the 29-year-old O’Connell won four consecutive points, two of which were double faults from the World No. 3.

Aiming for his second major title this fortnight, Medvedev was nearly at his best in the opening two sets, displaying all-court coverage and pinning O’Connell with depth on his groundstrokes. Medvedev did not give up a point behind his first serve until 4-1, 40/15 in the second set. But a third-set surge from the Sydney native forced the World No. 3 to regain focus and stay on court until 1:10 a.m. to reach the third round.

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“Tough match. I don’t know why, but at one moment in the match he decided to play better,” joked Medvedev in his on-court interview. “I played the same from the first point to the last. It became much tougher for me, so I’m happy that I was able to still hang in there. I had opportunities in the third set, and I managed to use them in the fourth.”

O’Connell recovered from a break down in the third set by taking earlier cuts at the ball and hitting less slice than he did in the first two sets. He also moved forward more frequently to put pressure on Medvedev, implementing several serve-and-volleys.

The 27-year-old Medvedev quickly responded to a frustrating end to the third set, reverting to consistency from the baseline to avoid any further drama on Louis Armstrong Stadium. After three hours, three minutes, Medvedev converted his fourth match point to improve to 3-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with World No. 69 O’Connell, who was aiming to reach the third round of a major for the second time this year (Wimbledon).

"When you get frustrated, you never know. You could lose your concentration and the match could become much tougher, or like today, I felt like maybe it helped me a little bit," Medvedev said. "In general, I felt like it was a great match to play, honestly.”


Pursuing a second major title this fortnight, Medvedev will next look to end Sebastian Baez’s 12-match winning streak in their first meeting.

Medvedev, who is a 20-time tour-level titlist, boasts a 51-11 match record this season, claiming four of his five trophies this year on hard courts. He is the 15th active player to record 250 career hard-court wins (tour-level) and the first under age 30.

Former World No. 1 chasing his second US Open title
Daniil Medvedev took a sledgehammer to Sebastian Baez's 12-match winning streak inside Arthur Ashe Stadium Saturday night, defeating the diminutive Argentine 6-2, 6-1 7-6(6) at 1:30 a.m. to power into the fourth round of the US Open.

Standing 6’6” to Baez's 5’7”, Medvedev leveraged his decisive physical advantage and big-match experience to dominate the contest in the first two sets. He looked beyond comfortable in extended backhand-to-backhand exchanges and while Baez matched Medvedev's forehand strikes - especially in the third set - he authored his own demise with 55 unforced errors and by converting just two of 12 break point chances.

"I felt like we were both playing well, even in the first two sets. I was just a little better on important points, everything was going my way,” Medvedev said. "Third set he raised his level just a little bit to make the match even tougher. A bit of luck and some good play from me kept me in the set and it's good to not finish at 4 (a.m.).”

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After a subdued opening two sets, Baez took the fight to Medvedev in the third, hitting bigger forehands and coming to net 17 times, nearing the 18 total net visits he made in the first two rounds.

Baez led 5-2 in the third set but his momentum was halted by a 10-minute delay for light rain. When play resumed Medvedev broke to get back on serve at 4-5, fended off one set point in the following game, and dug out of a 0/30 hole in his next service game. Baez made a number of tired unforced errors at key moments, including at 6/6 serving in the tie-break.

The former World No. 1 will now try to snap a two-match losing streak against Alex de Minaur, although he leads the Australian 4-2 overall in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Other than dropping the third set of his second-round match, Medvedev has been in strong form in New York, shrugging off modest lead-in form in Toronto and Cincinnati, where he went 3-2 during the North American ATP Masters 1000 hard-court events. He dismissed Hungary's Attila Balazs 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 in the first round and Christopher O'Connell 6-2, 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-2 in the second round.

Medvedev leads all players on Tour since 2018 for hard-court titles (18), finals (27) and match wins (231).

Medvedev has already won a personal-best five titles on the season, including the Miami Open and his first crown on clay, at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome. He also reached the final in Indian Wells.

World No. 32 Baez, who won his only hard-court lead-in tournament in Winston-Salem, had won 12 consecutive matches dating back to his clay-court title in Kitzbuehel.