Daniil Medvedev cruises in first clay match in 2023

Daniil Medvedev had no issues winning his first Monte-Carlo Masters match beating Lorenzo Sonego easily in two sets 6-3 6-2 to move to the next round.

Medvedev expressed a desire to do well on clay this year believing that he can play well on the surface despite disliking playing on it. He certainly backed up those words in the first match back on the surface beating Lorenzo Sonego easily in two sets. The Italian had a lot of support from the crowd but Medvedev didn't care at all proving a literal wall and sending all the balls back.

Sonego nearly lost in the previous round having to rally from 2-5 down in the final set against Humbert to win the match which explains his poor showing here. He's really not playing well at the moment and he really didn't have a chance, especially when his serve didn't show up at all in the match.

He did serve a bit better in the second set but it still didn't matter much as Medvedev cruised through the games. The final score was 6-3 6-2 with 18 winners for Medvedev in this stellar return to the red dirt. He will now face Alexander Zverev in the next round.