Daniil Medvedev begins Miami Open bid with easy victory

Daniil Medvedev enjoyed a comfortable start to his Miami Open campaign with a 6-1, 6-2 win over clay-court specialist Roberto Carballes Baena.

The fourth seed saw his 19-match winning run come to an end when he was beaten by Carlos Alcaraz in the Indian Wells final but barely had to break sweat as he secured victory in just 62 minutes on Saturday.

The Russian was totally dominant as he struck 18 winners to the Spaniard's five, making use of the drop shot, which Alcaraz had put to good effect against him last week, and joked afterwards that he had been trying to emulate the world No 1.

“I thought I needed to use that shot more. I've always liked drop shots but it's not a weapon in my game that I'm going to use 50 times a match,” he said. “You need to have confidence in the shot and today it worked pretty well.

“I'm happy with my first match, solid performance, looking forward for next matches.”

Medvedev had won three consecutive titles in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai before losing to Alcaraz. He now faces Slovakian world No 56 Alex Molcan, who defeated Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka 7-6, 1-6, 6-2.

In fine form in Miami