ATP Tour

Medvedev begins ‘new project’ with classy win, Rublev stunned in Hangzhou

Daniil Medvedev made a smooth start to a new era in his career Saturday at the Lynk & Co Hangzhou Open.

Competing for the first time since splitting with his coach of eight years, Gilles Cervara, the former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings dispatched Nishesh Basavareddy 6-2, 6-3 on debut at the Chinese ATP 250. Medvedev, who has been working with Thomas Johansson and Rohan Goetzke since his dramatic first-round US Open loss to Benjamin Bonzi last month, returned to action in style with a clinical performance against #NextGenATP qualifier Basavareddy.

👋 @DaniilMedwed 👋

[2] Medvedev blazes past Basavareddy 6-2 6-3@HangzhouOpen | #HangzhouOpen pic.twitter.com/aLBKBbCgGP

— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 20, 2025

“It was a great match for me. I’m happy with the way I played, with the way I served,” said Medvedev in his on-court interview. “I’m happy to win of course. I have not been winning a lot of matches, so I’m happy to win. I really like the city, I’ve enjoyed it here, so I’m happy to stay for a couple more days.”

Medvedev won nine consecutive games from 2-2 in the first set to take complete control of his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Basavareddy. Despite being broken for the only time in the match when serving at 5-1 in the second set, he soon wrapped a victory in which he converted four of eight break points he earned, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

With his 76-minute win, Medvedev improved to 27-18 for the 2025 season. The 29-year-old, who is competing this week as the World No. 18, has struggled for his best level this year. He won just one match across the four majors, and it was his defeat to Bonzi at the US Open that proved the catalyst for his split with Cervara.

After launching his stint working with Johansson and Goetzke, which he earlier this week described as ‘an interesting new project’, with a comfortable triumph against Basavareddy, Medvedev will next aim to book a semi-final spot in Hangzhou when he faces hometown favourite Wu Yibing, who later rallied past Sebastian Korda 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Top seed Andrey Rublev will not be joining Medvedev in the second round after Valentin Royer forged a major Saturday-afternoon shock in Hangzhou. The French qualifier upset Rublev 6-4, 7-6(2) for his first victory against a Top 20 opponent.

“Oh my god, I don’t know what to say right now,” said Royer, who outhit the powerful Rublev by 32 winners to 19, in his on-court interview. “I’m just so happy with my game… It was an unbelievable atmosphere today. So much respect to Andrey. He’s such a great player and I’m just so happy to be in the quarters here.”

Watch highlights of Royer's Hangzhou upset:

Competing at a career-high World No. 88, Royer has now earned back-to-back ATP Tour wins for the first time after his opening-round victory against Aleksandar Kovacevic. He will aim to make it three in a row when he takes on Learner Tien in the last eight. The #NextGenATP American, who is currently third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, earlier eased past Giulio Zeppieri 6-4, 6-3.

Alexander Bublik made it safely through to his sixth quarter-final of the season after rallying past Aleksandar Vukic 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4 in two hours, 13 minutes. With 28 wins and three titles in 2025, the Kazakhstani remains on track to better his personal-best tally of 35 wins from 2021.

Corentin Moutet and Tomas Martin Etcheverry set a quarter-final meeting by also earning second-round wins on Saturday in Hangzhou. Moutet overcame his fellow Frenchman Arthur Cazaux 6-7(1), 6-3, 7-6(3), while Etcheverry downed Rinky Hijikata 6-1, 6-4.