Daniil Medvedev made a winning start to life without longtime coach Gilles Cervara on Saturday in Hangzhou, defeating American teenager Nishesh Basavareddy 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals.
“I have not been winning a lot of matches so I’m happy to win,” Medvedev told the crowd after notching his 27th win of the season.
“It was a great match from me – happy with the way I played and with the way I served.”
Medvedev fired eight aces and dropped just 14 points on serve overall. He broke Basavareddy’s serve four times as he reeled off nine consecutive games to get from 2-2 in the first set to 6-2, 5-0. The American scrapped for three games before Medvedev finally finished him off in one hour and 16 minutes.
The 29-year-old Russian, ranked 18, recently ended an eight-year partnership with Cervara that yielded 20 titles and the 2021 US Open crown. In his place, Medvedev has enlisted Thomas Johansson and Rohan Goetzke to guide him through the closing months of 2025.
“It’s not been an easy decision, but I’m happy to try with [Johansson and Goetzke] for the remainder of the season and then for the [next] season, I’m going to see how it goes,” Medvedev told media in China earlier this week. “I love the way they work. I love what they say, and it’s an interesting new project in my career.”
Next up, Medvedev will face China’s Wu Yibing, who rallied past Sebastian Korda 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to book his spot in the last eight.
