Medvedev beats Paire, moves into second round in Acapulco

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Daniil Medvedev continued his pursuit of the No. 1 ranking with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Benoit Paire on Tuesday to move into the second round at the Mexican Open.

The 26-year-old Russian can overtake Novak Djokovic and move into top spot if he wins the title here.

Medvedev, who won the 2021 U.S. Open and was a runner-up to Rafael Nadal last month at the Australian Open, is playing in Mexico for the first time.

“It’s not easy to come back after some rest and some time off competition,” said Medvedev, who rallied from a break down in the second set for victory. “I managed to fight until the end against a very tough opponent and I’m happy that I managed to win.”

He’ll play either Alex Hernandez or Pablo Andujar in the next round.

If he wins this tournament, or if he reaches the Acapulco final and Djokovic does not win the title at Dubai, Medvedev will become the first player other than Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray to hold the top spot since 2004.

He admitted he´s thinking about the milestone but acknowledged that it might not happen next week.

“I know that in the next three tournaments it can be a possibility and that´s why I’m going to try to do this, because it´s not a dream anymore, it´s a goal,” he said. “And I will try to play well in the next three tournaments to achieve it.”

The likely biggest challenge for Medvedev in Mexico could be fourth-seeded Nadal, who opened with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Denis Kudla.

Nadal, who has won three titles in Acapulco (2005, 2013 and 2020) will play against Stefan Kozlov, another lucky loser, on Wednesday.

Medvedev could face Nadal for the first time since the Australian Open final in the Acapulco semifinals. Nadal rallied to win the final at Melbourne Park in five sets to capture a men’s record 21st Grand Slam singles title, breaking a tie with Federer and Djokovic. It also prevented Medvedev from becoming the first man in the Open era to win his second major title at the very next Grand Slam event.

In other matches Tuesday, Tommy Paul advanced when fifth-seeded Matteo Berrettini retired from their match in the second set because of an abdominal injury, and Yoshihito Nishioka beat Feliciano Lopez 2-6, 6-0, 6-4.

Berrettini, who reached the semifinals in the Australian Open, won the first set 6-4 but was down 5-1 in the second when he withdrew.

Paul will play Dusan Lajovic in the second round.

The Mexican Open, a 500 tournament, is played on the hard courts of the GNP Arena in Acapulco, a popular tourist destination south of Mexico City.

___

More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports