Medvedev battles past Koepfer, Monfils thrills home fans at Roland Garros

One year ago, Daniil Medvedev suffered a disappointing first-round exit at Roland Garros. The former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings showed Monday evening that he did not want that to happen again.

Medvedev battled past German lefty Dominik Koepfer 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 to reach the second round at the clay-court major. The fifth seed will next play Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic.

The 28-year-old now leads Koepfer 4-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series and has won 11 of the 13 sets they have played. Medvedev appeared en route to a far more straightforward victory, but Koepfer turned the match into a gritty affair, which ended at 12:29 a.m.

Taking care of business 💼@DaniilMedwed looking sharp on the Paris clay after a 6-3 6-4 5-7 6-3 victory against Koepfer. @rolandgarros | #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/Dbnta6YhlT

— ATP Tour (@atptour) May 27, 2024

Medvedev led by two sets and a break, but Koepfer extended rallies and was unrelenting in those points, relying on his heavy topspin forehand. The German won rallies of nine shots or longer by a 49-37 margin according to Infosys Rally Analysis.

That stat along with an increase in unforced errors from Medvedev helped the World No. 65 rally into a fourth set. Medvedev moved ahead by a break, but again Koepfer worked his way back onto serve.

The fifth seed drew energy from the late-night crowd — whether the fans were cheering for him or not — on Court Simonne-Mathieu and found his way through after three hours and eight minutes. He won 47 per cent of his return points and broke serve seven times.

Koepfer was trying to earn the biggest win of his career by PIF ATP Ranking. The lefty is now 0-9 against Top 5 opponents.

Medvedev's next opponent, Kecmanovic, clawed past in-form Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro 6-2, 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.

The player who upset Medvedev in Paris one year ago, Thiago Seyboth Wild, was in action at the same time. However, this time, he was unable to reach the second round. Home favourite Gael Monfils defeated the Brazilian 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

The Frenchman hit 43 winners and made just 33 unforced errors to reach the second round at Roland Garros for the 15th time.

In other action, 30th seed Lorenzo Musetti ousted Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.

“Today he served pretty good, and I was returning pretty well today and [had] really good feelings on the return. For sure I wasted a little bit of my advantage position in the third set when I had the ball for 4-Love and double break,” Musetti said. “But tennis is like this, and especially in best of five you have to be really patient and come to find solutions to the end, and that's what I did today. So I'm really happy to pass this tough first round.”