Oct 9 (Reuters) – U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev showed no signs of a Grand Slam hangover with a business-like 6-4 6-2 win over Mackenzie McDonald to reach the third round at the Indian Wells tournament on Saturday.

All aspects of the top-seeded Russian’s game were clicking as he improved to 5-0 in head-to-head matches against the American.

“I’m actually really pleased, because usually I haven’t played well in Indian Wells and I haven’t been playing that well in practices before (the tournament),” Medvedev said in his on-court interview.

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

The 25-year-old Medvedev was sharp from the outset, breaking McDonald to open the match on a warm night in the Southern California desert.

Medvedev’s ability to cover the court despite his towering frame, an aspect of his game that was on full display when he won a 44-shot rally, proved too much for the challenger, who never really pushed the tournament favorite.

Medvedev unleashed a blistering serve to McDonald’s backhand on match point and the return sailed wide to end the affair.

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

Djokovic withdrew prior to the start of the tournament in Indian Wells, which was not held last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving Medvedev as its number one seed.

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

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

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

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