Daniil Medvedev cruised into the second round of the Australian Open on Monday despite his win over Marcos Giron being marred by a "strange" moment in the final game.
The Russian has been a runner up at Albert Park for the last two years, and in 2022 was leading Rafael Nadal 2-0 in sets before the Spaniard mounted an incredible comeback. He's strongly fancied to challenge again this time around, having been seeded seventh for the first Slam of the year.
Sure enough, Medvedev wasted little time in getting through his opening match, dropping just three games in a 6-0 6-1 6-2 win. Therefore, it was intriguing that when serving for the match at 5-2 in the third, he appeared to lose his rag and tell one fan to "f**k off."
The former world No 1 was given a warning by the umpire for his conduct, whilst his American opponent looked on bemused. And Eurosport commentator Tim Henman implied Medvedev still held ill-feeling towards the Aussie fans from 12 months ago.
“It was a very strange time to react like that," he said. “It was a very good performance but a really strange ending with the last two points with his reaction and swearing at someone in the audience. Maybe a bit of afterthought from last year.”
Medvedev controversially accused some spectators of having a "low IQ" at the last tournament, later attempting to clarify his words. He was also angered by being jeered in the final as the Rod Laver Arena got firmly behind Nadal.
Afterwards though, the 26-year-old appeared relaxed as he discussed his opening win: “It's never easy in the first rounds," he said. "You never know what the level is, I told my coach today I was playing really good in practice before the tournament, and then I step on the warm-up court today, and I’m like, the sensations are really different.
“It’s always like this, when the tournament starts it’s a new story kind of, so I'm happy I was able to play well, run well, was physically feeling great, and looking forward to my next matches.”
The hope of Medvedev have already inadvertently been boosted by the withdrawals of top seed Carlos Alcaraz and Nick Kyrgios, who pulled out at the 11th hour with a knee injury. Defending champion Nadal is also into round two, but appeared flustered as he was made to fight to a four set win against Jack Draper.
