LONDON — Eighth seed Daniil Medvedev had to work hard for his place in the Wimbledon third round Wednesday, eventually defeating Spanish first-timer Daniel Merida 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 in a second-round contest on Court Two.
The 30-year-old Russian struggled to find his footing early against the 21-year-old Merida, an energetic all-court competitor who cracked the top 100 rankings for the first time this year and currently sits at 84th in the world.
For long stretches of the match, Medvedev — who is chasing a second Grand Slam title following his U.S. Open victory in 2021 — appeared to be going through the motions rather than playing with his usual sharpness.
“I was lacking rhythm a little bit in the beginning,” Medvedev said during a courtside interview following the match.
The tide turned decisively in the fourth set, when Medvedev broke Merida’s serve twice and let out a shout of triumph. He finished the match with a powerful serve that Merida could only deflect into the net, then turned to acknowledge the applauding crowd.
“My serve didn’t really let me down today,” said the towering 1.98-metre Russian.
