"One of the sweetest victories' says Medvedev on win over Popyrin

Daniil Medvedev survived a scare in the 3rd round of the Miami Open against Alexei Popyrin and after the match spoke about it.

It was supposed to be a straightforward finish for Medvedev who was up 5-2 in the 2nd set of that match. Medvedev served for the match at 5-3 but got broken. He would be up 40-0 in the next game with three match points but could not convert. Ultimately he wrapped it up in the 3rd with 6-4 despite a plethora of issues.

Those issues are the reason he called this match one of his sweetest victories:

“It’s probably one of the sweetest victories in my career because I was cramping like hell in the third set. It’s one thing when you’re cramping when you’re [ahead in the score], but I started cramping before. It was tough to think about the win in these conditions."

He also admitted he should have ended it earlier:

“At the same time, I should have won in two sets and we would not be talking about cramping. But anyway, we have the result on the board and I’m happy that I managed to go through all the difficulties of this definitely crazy match.”

Medvedev also admitted that he did not feel nervous after missing opportunities only it was hard to focus with the cramping:

“Of course, it would have been better to just win it 6-3 in the second or 6-4 when I had a triple match point. As soon as [a missed opportunity] happens you just focus on the next one, but the only thing is it was tough to focus on the next one because I felt the cramps coming. It was not easy."

He will face Frances Tiafoe next and the American on his best day is a very tough opponent to beat.