Top seed Danil Medvedev beat French Next Gen player Arthur Fils 6-4 6-2 in their first head-to-head match on the ATP Tour at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
Medvedev dropped just five points on serve and hit 16 winners to 8 unforced errors.
Both players held on their serve until the seventh game, when Medvedev converted his first break point to take a 4-3 lead. Medvedev served out the first set at love.
Fils won just two points on Medvedev’s serve in the opening set.
The Frenchman did not earn a single break point in the second set. Medvedev cruised through his service games and earned two breaks of serve to close out the match
Medvedev fired seven forehand winners and drew 31 unforced errors from Fils, who finished runner-up to Alexander Bublik in the final of the European Cup in Antwerp last week.
“I was a little bit nervous coming into this match. Arthur wants this top win and he is 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 am very happy. Fils is super young. He has made a big jump in the ranking. When we see see guys like this, sooner or later he is going to get in the top 10”, said Medvedev.
Medvedev set up a second round match against Grigor Dimitrov. The Russian player leads 5-2 in his seven head-to-head matches against his Bulgarian rival. Last week’s Stockolm champion Gael Monfils beat Daniel Altmaier 6-4 6-4 with eight aces extending his winning streak to six consecutive matches. Monfils earned a break in each set and saved all five break points. The Frenchman set up a match against Frances Tiafoe.
