No. 7 seed Daniil Medvedev avoided the fate that befell him at the U.S. Open in 2025 and worked a straight-sets victory over French qualifier Hugo Gaston on the first day of the Grand Slam’s main draw Sunday in New York.
The 2021 U.S. Open champion from Russia lost a memorable five-set match to France’s Benjamin Bonzi in the first round last season and was fined for his on-court behavior, exacerbated by a photographer entering the court of play while Bonzi was serving for the match.
No such drama occurred this time for Medvedev, who bounced Gaston 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in two hours and 14 minutes.
Perhaps Medvedev was especially locked in after he was shown the door in the first round of the tune-up event last week in Winston-Salem, N.C.
“The last couple of weeks were not easy but, you know how it is, sometimes you lose matches, sometimes you win,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview. “I’m happy that today I managed to produce a high level of tennis. I felt like I did everything I wanted to do well. I finished the match strong. I started the match strong. I’m really glad the way I played.”
Medvedev out-aced Gaston 10-0 and won a stellar 38 of his 46 first-service points (82.6%). He saved the only break point he faced and will meet the winner between wild card Sebastian Gorzny and Belgium’s Raphael Collignon in the second round.
The top American man in action was No. 20 seed Tommy Paul, who got past Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.
Wong served up 15 aces to Paul’s nine and charged back from down 5-3 to force a tiebreaker and win the first set. Paul found another gear after that.
“I feel like I started the match really, really well,” Paul said in his on-court interview. “Obviously had a little hiccup there at the end of the first set and didn’t think I played too well there in the breaker. I knew I had to up my intensity in the second (set) and the rest of the match, really.
“I wanted to get the crowd a little bit involved. I think we had some good points, and it was fun to play with you guys.”
Czech No. 18 seed Jiri Lehecka defeated Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-1, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-2. French No. 26 seed Arthur Rinderknech beat Japan’s Sho Shimabukuro 6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-2, while No. 27 Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina topped the Czech Republic’s Vit Kopriva 6-3, 6-4, 6-0.
The first seeded player to go down in the men’s singles draw was No. 29 Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, as Frenchman Luca Van Assche earned a 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 upset. Norrie is just five spots above Van Assche in the ATP rankings (No. 35 vs. No. 40), but the Frenchman was the better player Sunday. He won 49 of his 58 first-service points (84.5%) and Norrie managed just 43 of 75 (57.3%).
Play on outside courts was interrupted Sunday at about 8:05 p.m. ET due to rain. No. 4 seed and four-time U.S. Open champ Novak Djokovic of Serbia was playing Argentina’s Mariano Navone under a closed roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium and lost the first set to Navone in a tiebreaker 7-6 (5) before taking the second set 7-5.
–Field Level Media
