Medvedev labours into Wimbledon third round

LONDON, July 1 : Eighth seed Daniil Medvedev laboured to a 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-2 victory over Spanish Wimbledon debutant Daniel Merida in the second round on Wednesday and thanked his serve for the win.

The 30-year-old Russian took a while to find his range on Court Two against Merida, 21, a busy all-court player, who broke into the top 100 this year and is now ranked 84th in the world.For much of the match, Medvedev, seeking a second Grand Slam trophy after winning the U.S. Open in 2021, looked as though he found tennis a chore.

"I was lacking rhythm a little bit in the beginning," Medvedev said in a courtside interview.

But he yelled with triumph in the fourth set when he twice broke the Spaniard's serve and applauded the crowd when he took the match with a big serve that Merida could only tip into the net.

"My serve didn't really let me down today," the lanky 1.98-metre Russian added.