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Daniil Medvedev is a 20-time tour-level singles champion, but he has yet to win a single event more than once. If his opening performance at the Erste Bank Open is any indication, Medvedev could put an end to that statistical anomaly this week in Vienna.

The top seed earned a dominant 6-4, 6-2 win against #NextGenATP Frenchman Arthur Fils on Wednesday in the pair's first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. In a masterful performance, Medvedev lost just five points on serve and recorded a clean stat line of 16 winners and eight unforced errors.

"I was a little bit nervous coming into the match," Medvedev said, explaining that he took a week off from practice following Shanghai, during which time he celebrated his daughter's birthday. "Arthur wants this top win and he's going to get it one day. But luckily I managed to serve well, play well, kind of work him out during the match and it worked, so I'm very happy."


Medvedev was clinical in all aspects of his game in the 75-minute match, using his forehand to do the most damage with seven winners off that wing. His relentless yet steady game drew 31 unforced errors from Fils, who made the final in Antwerp last week.

Following the victory, Medvedev was full of praise for his opponent, who began the season outside the Top 250 and now sits at a career high of No. 38 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

"He's super young, a big jump in the rankings. Usually when we see guys like this, sooner or later he's going to get in the Top 10," Medvedev said after denying Fils his third Top 10 win and what would have been the biggest victory of his career by ranking. "Then the question is, does he stay there for 10 years or he just comes there and drops out? We never know, but he has big potential and hopefully he can realise it."

After defeating the 19-year-old Fils, Medvedev will next meet 32-year-old Grigor Dimitrov in the second round. The Bulgarian entered Vienna after a run to the Shanghai semi-finals in his last event.

Daniil Medvedev and Grigor Dimitrov treated the Vienna crowd to an Austrian National Day treat Thursday at the Erste Bank Open.

The top seed and defending champion Medvedev dug deep for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 triumph in front of a packed crowd at the Wiener Stadthalle, hauling himself back into the second-round contest after Dimitrov had made a lightning-fast start at the ATP 500.

“It was a great match,” said Medvedev in his on-court interview. “He started really well and I was missing just a little bit too much. He was ahead and starting from the second set I started to play better, to run better, to put more balls in the court and play faster when I needed to.

“I managed to have small control of the match, but it was very tough and could have gone either way. I’m very happy I managed to do it.”


Medvedev was uncharacteristically wayward with his groundstrokes in the early stages, although he was given little time to settle as Dimitrov delivered a high-quality opening set that included some breathtaking moments of quality off both wings. Once Medvedev rediscovered his trademark defensive skills, however, he was able to slow the Bulgarian’s charge.

The top seed broke in the opening game of the second set and barely looked back to force a decider. He showcased his big-moment mentality in the ninth game of the final set, when he broke Dimitrov’s serve decisively to love. Medvedev finished with 31 winners, including 14 aces, to improve to 6-2 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Dimitrov.

Medvedev is now 3-0 against Dimitrov indoors, having dominated the Bulgarian in the semi-finals in Vienna a year ago and in Rotterdam in February. Although Dimitrov ensured Thursday’s clash was a far closer affair, the World No. 3 Medvedev held firm to set a quarter-final clash against eighth seed Karen Khachanov.

Thursday’s triumph was a Tour-leading 45th hard-court win for the 27-year-old Medvedev, who has already secured his spot for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.

Top seed aiming to defend title
Daniil Medvedev won his second consecutive three-setter on Friday at the Erste Bank Open to advance to the semi-finals at the Vienna ATP 500. The defending champion and top seed played a brilliant final set to clinch a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory in a bruising battle against Karen Khachanov, one day after coming back from a set down to defeat Grigor Dimitrov.

By matching his personal-best season tally of 63 wins from 2021, Medvedev (63-14) moved level with Carlos Alcaraz (63-9) for most wins this season.

"I hope I can get one more, you never know," he said of that milestone. "Tennis is a strong sport and we have strong opponents. So hopefully I can get one more win at least or maybe more. I have had an amazing season... But it's not finished yet, so I want to try to finish it even stronger."


The 27-year-old is now within two victories of his first successful title defence on the ATP Tour; Medvedev has 20 tour-level singles titles but has never won a single event more than once.

Through to the 49th tour-level semi-final of his career, the World No. 3's latest effort improved him to 11-3 this season in quarter-finals, including a 9-1 mark on hard courts.

Against the eighth-seeded Khachanov, Medvedev saw home leads of 3-0 in the first and final sets without facing a break point in either. In addition to the first-strike tennis his strong serving allowed him to play, Medvedev also flashed his athleticism and his defensive abilities time and again to frustrate Khachanov.

Khachanov had an opening at 15/30 in the final game but netted a would-be forehand winner from midcourt. Medvedev made the most of the freebie to close out the match in two hours, 15 minutes.

"It was a very close match, so of course mentally you have to be strong and it was a long one," he assessed. "But at the end, one break each set. So I'm happy that I managed to make two, and he only made one."

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While Medvedev has already secured his place at the Nitto ATP Finals, Khachanov's defeat all but ended his hopes for Turin qualification. Khachanov moved up two places to 14th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin this week, but remains 895 points behind Holger Rune for eighth place, with just the Rolex Paris Masters and ATP 250 events in Sofia and Metz remaining before the cutoff.

Next up for Medvedev in Vienna will be fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.