Daniil Medvedev is the top seed at the Wimbledon tune-up event in Mallorca. AP
Medvedev dropped his opening service game and trailed 0-3 before finding his rhythm and reeling off five straight games. He faced few problems from the Frenchman in the second set to secure his place in the next round.
Daniil Medvedev is the top seed at the Wimbledon tune-up event in Mallorca. AP
Santa Ponca (Spain): Some of the world's top men had mixed fortunes as they warmed up for Wimbledon at the Mallorca grass-court event on Tuesday.
World number two Daniil Medvedev eased into the quarter-finals, fifth ranked Dominic Thiem retired from his second-round game with a wrist injury, while number one Novak Djokovic barely survived on a rare excursion into doubles.
Medvedev lost the first three games to Corentin Moutet, but found his rhythm to win 6-4, 6-2.
The victory over Frenchman Moutet improved Medvedev's career record on grass to 19-13. The Russian has previously reached the semi-finals at Eastbourne in 2017 and at Queen's Club in 2019.
His build-up to Wimbledon, which starts next Monday, will continue with a last-eight meeting with the young Norwegian, Casper Ruud.
Thiem retired with a right wrist injury while leading 5-2 against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
The Austrian was returning to the courts three weeks after a five-set loss in the first round of the French Open to Pablo Andujar.
Djokovic, who won Roland Garros on June 13, did not enter the singles in Mallorca.
Instead he opted to play doubles for the first time since the ATP Cup in Australia in February. He paired with 31-year-old Spaniard Carlos Gomez-Herrera, ranked 355 in singles, and they received a wild card entry.
On Tuesday, they got a workout from another Serb Nikola Cacic and his partner from Bosnia Tomislav Brkic, before winning 5-7, 6-4, 13-11.
In the deciding super tiebreak, the Djokovic pair saved two match points before advancing.