Stan Wawrinka stuns Daniil Medvedev in Metz, books quarterfinal

Daniil Medvedev's return to tennis did not go as expected as the Russian lost to Stan Wawrinka in Mertz 4-6 7-6(7) 3-6.

It was a match that was quite interesting as it highlighted some problems in Medvedev's game. Firstly, he was quite loose with his game and that's nothing unusual but when things go wrong, he doesn't really find a way to get back into it. There is a lack of urgency that ultimately cost him.

Serves are quite important indoors and he was not serving well at all but his opponent was much worse. Wawrinka hit his first serve only 38 % of the time and he dropped only four points on his serve in the first set. It finished 6-4 for Wawrinka so it wasn't a quick one but Medvedev had more double faults than he won poinst on return when his opponent serve way below 50 %.

That paints a really clear picture of how unserious the Russian took this match. He rushed repeatedly in most points never really settling down. Even when he got gifted a break, like at the start of the second set, Medvedev threw it away immediately. He did serve better in the second set and showed more patience but so did Wawrinka.

Medvedev was still able to get it done in the tiebreak saving a match point. Loose play returned in the final set as he dropped his serve without winning a point to start it. He nearly dropped it again but saved two break points to make it 1-3. The Russian was able to break back and make it 3-3 but lost his serve once more and this time it was too much to come back from.