Opelka stuns Medvedev as Rublev fights past Humbert in the St. Petersburg Open round 2

Daniil Medvedev got eliminated in the round 2 of the St. Petersburg Open by Reilly Opelka as Andrey Rublev fought past Humbert.

Daniil Medvedev was in very high spirits ahead of his first match at the St. Petersburg Open but little did he know that it would be his only match. The number one seed got beaten by Reilly Opelka after winning the opening set 2-6 7-5 6-4 in just under two hours. Medvedev started off well in the match-winning the opening set 6-2. It was a great set by Medvedev who read Opelka's dangerous serve winning 12 of 15 points on his 2nd serve.

That allowed him to get a grip of Opelkas game which resulted in the convincing victory. The 2nd set was more or less a snooze fest as both players served well and played well. Opelka mixed his serves much better than in the previous set and Medvedev struggled to read them well. While he still struggled on his 2nd serve, it was considerably less. At 6-5 for Opelka, Medvedev played a bad game allowing the American breakpoints which he used to clinch the 2nd set 7-5.

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The final fest followed a similar pattern as the 2nd one with both player's holding their serve. Medvedev had 4 breakpoints in two separate games but failed to use either. Late in the set, Opelka got his first in the set which was actually a match point which he used. A stunning win for the American in front of a Russian crowd against a Russian.

It wasn't all terrible for the Russian crowd who saw one Russian, Rublev, advance to the next round. Humbert was a formidable opponent who lost in three sets against Rublev after a strong two-hour battle. The end result was 4-6 6-4 7-5 with Rublev emerging victories giving the Russian crowd hope of a native winner. Rublev was sensational on his first serve winning 89 % of those points in the match (42/47). That along with 9 aces allowed him to come back from behind and win it.

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