Medvedev channeled his wider breadth of experience on the outset, breaking early and easing to a 4-2 lead. But as would be the case for most of the match, Medjedovic was never far behind, breaking Medvedev twice en route to a first set tiebreaker.
Shaking off some struggles on serve, Medvedev clinched the Sudden Death but was soon behind in the second, getting broken twice more as Medjedovic forced a deciding set.
“He hits heavy. He hits strong. There is a lot of clay on this court so the bounce, especially when you hit heavy, are a bit unpredictable. I found myself going back on a lot of my shots, and when you got back, you don’t have the power. There were a lot of things where I didn’t control what I wanted to control. Maybe it was only because of him, but I felt like I was missing the energy today.”
Just when Medvedev appeared to have the match under control, playing pristine tennis to take 4-1 lead in the third, Medjedovic surged back, leveling the set at four games apieace amid a rowdy atmosphere.
“I felt like between the points it was fine but at one moment, there were some guys who were yelling a little on his serve. I was struggling also because it was just before his return. The energy could have been different where maybe you talk less between points.
“I remember Frances [Tiafoe] and Nick [Kyrgios] had a coversation where they thought matches should have more noise. I personally think no, but if there was permanent noise, no one would care. Since there is no noise, one person yelling something can really throw you off.”
Experience ultimately won out as Medvedev broke a weary Medjedovic one last time to secure victory in just under three hours.
Standing between the defending champion and a second straight quarterfinal in Rome is No. 14 seed Tommy Paul, who made much quicker work of his third-round opposition, Dominik Koepfer, to reach the Round of 16. Paul nearly beat Medvedev on slow conditions at the BNP Paribas Open in March, but the former world No. 1 rallied to win in three.
“I’ll just need to reset. I won the match, so I’ll do some physio work and go to sleep, try to play better tomorrow.”
2023 finalist Holger Rune was less successful in his three-set effort, bottoming out to No. 17 seed Sebastian Baez, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
