MELBOURNE, Australia — The Australian Open started well for second-seeded Daniil Medvedev, one of the biggest potential beneficiaries of Novak Djokovic‘s deportation.
Aiming to be the first man in the Open era to win his second major title on his next Grand Slam appearance, Medvedev had a 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (3) win over Henri Laaksonen on Tuesday in the first round at Melbourne Park. p=””>
Defending champion Djokovic was already back in Serbia, two days after losing his legal challenge to stay in Australia despite being unvaccinated against COVID-19, when Medvedev went onto Rod Laver Arena and raced through the first set in 26 minutes.
Nobody has dominated on that court like Djokovic, who was unbeaten in the nine finals he reached at the Australian Open. Medvedev was the most recent recipient of one of those beatings, losing last year’s championship match.
But he avenged that with his breakthrough major title at the US Open, where his victory meant Djokovic’s bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam finished one win short.
“I’m feeling great … hopefully I can show some good signs here throughout the two weeks,” he said. “I like pressure.
“Always want to do better than I did last year [but] it’s not going to be easy.”
Medvedev is bidding to become the first Russian man to win the Australian Open title since Marat Safin, who beat Lleyton Hewitt in the final in 2005.
Earlier in the men’s draw, No. 5 Andrey Rublev beat Gianluca Mager 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, No. 11 Jannik Sinner beat Joao Sousa 6-4, 7-5, 6-1, No. 13 Diego Schwartzman beat Filip Krajinovic 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 to advance along with No. 15 Roberto Bautista Agut and No. 27 Marin Cilic.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.