PARIS: Fifth seed Daniil Medvedev beat Tomas Machac 7-6(4), 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 in an entertaining clash under the roof on Court Suzanne-Lenglen on Saturday to move into the French Open last 16.
Machac was in the limelight last month when he stunned world No 1 Novak Djokovic in the Geneva Open semifinals for the biggest win of his career and he pushed Medvedev in a match lasting nearly 3-1/2 hours.
Having taken the first two sets, Medvedev lost his way and capitulated in the third after he broke Machac, with the Czech player winning the next six games to the delight of a crowd starved of action on a rainy day in Paris.
Medvedev refocused in the fourth set, however, and despite Machac’s bold attempts to force a decider, the Russian stepped up in the crucial points to advance.