October 9 (Reuters) – US Open Champion Daniil Medvedev showed no signs of a Grand Slam hangover with a businesslike 6-4 6-2 win over Mackenzie McDonald and reached the third round at the Indian Wells tournament on Saturday.

All aspects of the game of the best-seeded Russian clicked as he improved to 5-0 in head-to-head games against the American.

“I’m really very satisfied because I usually didn’t play well at Indian Wells and I didn’t play that well in training before (the tournament),” said Medvedev in his interview on the pitch.

“(I’m) very happy with my performance. That’s the most important thing, no matter how I played before the tournament.”

Sharp from the start, 25-year-old Medvedev broke McDonald’s to open the game on a warm night in the southern California desert.

Medvedev’s ability to cover the court despite his towering frame, an aspect of his play that came to the fore in a 44-stroke win, proved too much for the challenger who never really pushed the tournament favorite.

Medvedev unleashed a brilliant serve against McDonald’s backhand at the match point and the return sailed far to end the affair.

The Russian ended world number one Novak Djokovic’s shot in history last month by stopping his offer for a calendar year Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows.

Djokovic retired before the start of the tournament in Indian Wells, which last year did not play due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving Medvedev number one.

In his last outing, Medvedev defeated Denis Shapovalov in straight sets at the Laver Cup.

Next up for Medvedev is Filip Krajinovic, who defeated Marcos Giron in the second round of the Masters 1000 tournament with 7-6 (2) 7-5.

Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles and Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru; Adaptation by Muralikumar Anantharaman

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