French Open: Daniil Medvedev storms into R2, Holger Rune shocks Denis Shapovalov
May 24, 2022
Paris [France], May 24 : The world No.2 Daniil Medvedev enjoyed a hassle-free opening round of the French Open 2022, breezing past Argentine lefty Facundo Bagnis 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
Medvedev, who was 0-4 at the tournament prior to his quarter-final run in Paris last year, has a shot at returning to the top of the rankings, replacing Novak Djokovic, if results go his way this fortnight.
The 26-year-old returned from a two-month break to recover from hernia surgery last week in Geneva and looked comfortable on Tuesday during his one-hour 38-minute victory over world No.103 Bagnis. Medvedev will take on Serbia's Laslo Djere in the next round.
Later, Danish teenager Holger Rune claimed a statement victory on his Roland-Garros main draw debut, upsetting No.14 seed Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-1, 7-6(4) on Court 12.
The 19-year-old, who won the boys' singles title here in 2019, was ranked 474 at the start of last year and is now up to a remarkable 40 in the world, on the back of a maiden title run in Munich a few weeks ago.
Shapovalov broke Rune as he was serving for the match late in the third and the Canadian held set point shortly after. But Rune recovered to force a tiebreak and locked down the win on the two-hour mark.
Rune is now 11-6 on clay for the season and plays Pedro Martinez or Henri Laaksonen in the second round.
