Medvedev makes strong start to US Open title bid

It was the 200th career win for the 25-year-old and his 160th on hard courts against Frenchman Richard Gasquet

NEW YORK:

Russian second-seed Daniil Medvedev stayed solid from the baseline against Frenchman Richard Gasquet to advance to the second round of the US Open with a 6-4 6-3 6-1 victory.

It was the 200th career win for the 25-year-old and his 160th on hard courts and the Russian showed why he is one of the top contenders for the title with a clinical display at Arthur Ashe Stadium in the final match of the opening day on Monday.

The 2019 US Open finalist, who also reached the final of the Australian Open at the start of the year, broke Gasquet once in each of the first two sets before the veteran Frenchman seemed to start struggling physically.

Gasquet, 10 years older than his opponent, started to move gingerly in the third set in the hot and humid conditions at Flushing Meadows as Medvedev broke him three times to close out the match in under two hours.

"I saw a lot of matches today, I had all day to watch and all the matches were tough physically," Medvedev said in his on-court interview.

"Talking about our match the score might seem easy but we played two hours and first two sets were high intensity. Third set I was actually not that good physically also.

"I'm happy that I didn't stay out here for five hours and I can be ready for the next match."

Earlier world No.7 Andrey Rublev made short work of veteran qualifier Ivo Karlovic, overcoming the towering Croatian in straight sets.

The No.5 seed from Russia came into the year's last grand slam having reached the Cincinnati final and made a blistering start on Monday, setting up a 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 victory.

He won the opening three games of the match before taking the first set with ease.

The 42-year-old Karlovic, the oldest US Open qualifier in the open era, launched his comeback in the second set.

But Rublev held his nerve in the tiebreak, which he claimed with a forehand winner, before shifting gears in the final set.

No.11 seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina ousted Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis in straight sets and Canadian 12th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime overcame Russian Evgeny Donskoy 7-6 (7-0) 3-6 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (10-8) .

Cristian Garin, the No.16 seed from Chile, and No.24 seed Daniel Evans of Great Britain both triumphed in four sets.

But not all seeds emerged unscathed.

No.19 seed John Isner was bounced out by fellow American Brandon Nakashima in straight sets while Ugo Humbert - the No.23 seed of France - was upset by German Peter Gojowczyk 1-6 6-1 6-2 5-7 6-4.

Croatian Marin Cilic, the 2014 champion, retired injured from his first round match with German Philipp Kohlschreiber with the contest locked at two sets each.

France's former Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga withdrew from the tournament with a leg injury and was replaced by Japan's Yuichi Sugita, who went down to Norwegian Casper Ruud 6-3 6-2 6-2.