Rolex Paris Masters: Daniil Medvedev eliminated by Alex de Minaur (6-4, 2-6, 7-5) in the 2nd round

Medvedev on the mat

This is the first thunderclap of the week at Bercy. While he remained on a promising title in Vienna, Daniil Medvedev was surprised as soon as he entered the running in the second round of the Rolex Paris Masters by Alex de Minaur on Wednesday. Finalist last year, the Russian cracked when he had a break ahead at the start of the third set to bow (6-4, 2-6, 7-5) after 2h46 of combat. The Australian, 25th player in the world, thus obtains the first victory of his career against a member of the World Top 5 after… 18 failures.

He failed to follow up. Appearing at the top of his form last week in Austria, Daniil Medvedev stumbled on the first step of the last Masters 1000 of the year. Starting his tournament against an opponent such as Alex de Minaur was certainly not a gift, but the feverishness of the Russian at the end of the game was surprising, as he had managed to reverse the dynamic after a complicated start. Clearly superior in the second set and with a break ahead of third entry (6-4, 2-6, 0-2), he tensed up and ended up paying it.

Because on the other side of the net, De Minaur did not let go, faithful to his reputation as a warrior. Compensating for his lack of power by taking the ball very early, he took the lead in the exchanges in the last act. After an immediate break, he put pressure on Medvedev frequently rising to the net (43 times for 25 points scored!). And he was not discouraged when he saw the first two match points slipping from under his nose on the restart at 5-4 for him. Two games later, he got two more, converting the fourth… on a double fault from the Russian who smashed his racket in rage. In the round of 16, De Minaur has an appointment with Frances Tiafoe.

FAA comes back from (very, very) far

A few tens of minutes after the disappearance of Medvedev, Bercy almost lost another title contender on Wednesday. Hot for three weeks (titles in Florence, Antwerp and Basel), Félix Auger-Aliassime suffered for his entry into the running in Paris. And that is to say the least. The Canadian, very close to qualifying for the ATP Finals, had to fight for almost three and a half hours against Swedish qualifier Mikael Ymer before winning 6-7, 6-4, 7-6.

When Auger-Aliassime found himself trailing 7-6, 4-1 and with a double break point against him, defeat even seemed imminent for the Quebecer, totally abandoned by his serve, which had been his great strength lately (he only won 71% of the points on his first serve and 41% behind his second). But failing to be as brilliant as they have been since the beginning of autumn, FAA had the great merit of not giving up mentally.

After winning seven games in a row to get back to one set all, Medvedev broke early in the deciding set. We could then think that the world No. 8 had done the hardest part. In reality, he was still far from having finished with his miserable afternoon. Unbroken a first time, then a second by Ymer, Auger-Aliassime had to hold his face-off at 5-4 then 6-5 against him.

Finally, after a chaotic tie-break, he found the way out on his second match point. The fatigue is there, and with these 200 extra minutes in the legs, it might not get better before finding Taylor Fritz or Gilles Simon on Thursday. But at least he’s still alive in this tournament, unlike Medvedev…