By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Former champion Daniil Medvedev made light work of France's Hugo Gaston 6-4 6-2 6-4 on Sunday, exorcising the demons of his ill-fated campaign a year ago with an aggressive performance at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
A frequent - and gleeful - villain at the tournament he won in 2021, Medvedev crashed out in the opening round in 2025 but was all business this time around with 34 winners against just 11 from his opponent.
"You need to play your game - I knew he was
going to do some drop shots, some underarm serves," said Medvedev. "I needed to make some winners, put some pressure on him."
Gaston's creative shotmaking had little impact on the nimble-footed, six-foot six-inch Medvedev, and the Frenchman did himself no favours as he handed his opponent the break with a misplaced backhand in the seventh game.
The seventh seed upped his level in the second set, where the Frenchman gifted him the break in the third game when he whacked a forehand into the net.
Medvedev held onto the momentum from there, leaping into the air to hit a superbly placed backhand shot out of Gaston's reach on break point in the seventh.
Only days after publicly pondering a career in pickleball after his opening-match defeat at Winston-Salem, the mercurial Russian converted another break-point chance in the opening game of the third when he whipped a forehand past the Frenchman.
He closed it out with an unreturnable serve and will play the winner of a match later on Sunday between American wildcard Sebastian Gorzny and Belgian Raphael Collignon.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New YorkEditing by Toby Davis)
