MONTE CARLO: Daniil Medvedev cruised through his first match of the year on clay on Wednesday, defeating Italian wild card Lorenzo Sonego 6-3, 6-2 at the Monte Carlo Masters to set up a meeting with Alexander Zverev.

Medvedev broke Sonego at the first attempt and then twice more in the second set to reel off his 25th win in his past 26 tour-level matches.

“Every match is a struggle [on clay], but I have had some good matches on clay,” said Medvedev, a winner of four hardcourt titles this year. “I managed to play good against a very strong player on clay.

“It’s completely different on clay, but confidence is confidence,” the third seed added. “It’s about winning matches, because it is always two players that play, and one is going to win... I hope to bring this confidence even further.”

Medvedev earned his tour-leading 30th victory of the season and will face Zverev in the last 16 — a first meeting between the pair on clay.

“We’ve had some tough matches,” said Medvedev, who has won seven of 13 previous matches against Zverev.

German 13th seed Zverev is still finding his way back after tearing ankle ligaments in the French Open semi-finals last year against Rafael Nadal.

Following a difficult first-round tie against the dangerous Alexander Bublik, he beat Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday.

Zverev broke for 3-2 in the first set and held serve to take it before breaking again in the fifth game of the second set. Bautista Agut, however, broke the German’s serve to level at 3-3, only for Zverev to make the decisive break in the following game.

“I saw him [Zverev] in the first two matches, he seemed to be in good shape. I’m just going to have to be at my best,” said Medvedev.

RUUD MARCHES ON

Casper Ruud, last year’s French Open runner-up, continued his preparations for the claycourt Grand Slam by battling past Botic van de Zand­schulp 7-5. 7-6 (7-1), avenging a three-set defeat by the Dutch­man in Miami last month.

“It’s never easy to start at a new tournament and against a player I’ve lost to before,” said Ruud, who claimed the Estoril title in the lead-up to Monte Carlo. “I was a bit sloppy and didn’t take my chances but in this case I was a bit happy because I felt there was some unfinished business.”

Ruud, a semi-finalist in the Principality two years ago, will take on Jan-Lennard Struff next after the German knocked out 14th seed Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-2.

Danish teenager Holger Rune swept aside two-time French Open runner-up Domi­nic Thiem 6-2, 6-4 and next faces Matteo Berrettini, who celebrated his 27th birthday with a hard-fought 5-7, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4 victory over Francisco Cerundolo.

Karen Khachanov, the ninth seed, downed Ilya Ivashka 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 to book a showdown with Andrey Rublev while US eighth seed Taylor Fritz overcame Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka 7-6 (12-10), 6-2.

They were joined by Lorenzo Musetti, who blanked Luca Nardi 6-0, 6-0 to set up a clash with world number one Novak Djokovic.

Miami runner-up Jannik Sinner advanced after his doubles partner Diego Schwar­tzman retired with a shoulder injury trailing 6-0, 3-1.

Chile’s Nicolas Jarry will take on Stefanos Tsitsipas after outlasting Australia’s Alexei Popyrin in three sets.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2023