NEW YORK (Reuters) -
Russian second seed Daniil Medvedev stayed solid from the baseline against Frenchman Richard Gasquet to advance to the second round of the U.S. Open with a 6-4 6-3 6-1 victory.
It was the 200th career win for the 25-year-old and his 160th on hard courts and the Russian showed why he is one of the top contenders for the title with a clinical display at Arthur Ashe Stadium in the final match of the opening day.
The 2019 U.S. Open finalist, who also reached the title match of the Australian Open at the start of the year, broke Gasquet once in each of the first two sets before the veteran Frenchman seemed to start struggling physically.
Gasquet, 10 years older than his opponent, started to move gingerly in the third set in the hot and humid conditions at Flushing Meadows as Medvedev broke him three times to close out the match in under two hours.