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In the rarest of rare occurrences, top seed Daniil Medvedev lost to Stan Wawrinka in the Round of 16 at the Moselle Open, an ATP 250 event. The 284th-ranked Swiss beat the fourth-ranked Russian 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-3 in two hours and 21 minutes to level their head-to-head at 2-2.
Although Medvedev struggled throughout the match, he managed to save a match point in the second set tie-break and force a decider. There was a moment of controversy in the third set when the 2021 US Open champion threw his racquet on the ground, causing the spectators to boo him. He responded by mocking them, suggesting that they were behaving like monkeys.
Over three sets, Medvedev hit 12 double faults and broke Wawrinka's serve twice. The 37-year-old Swiss player, on the other hand, broke his Russian opponent four times to set up a quarterfinal clash with Sweden's Mikael Ymer.
While tennis followers were thrilled to see Wawrinka beating a top-10 player after around two years, they expressed concern for Daniil Medvedev, who has been inconsistent this season, managing just one ATP 250 title.
"Happy for Stan but Daniil really is broken. Hurts to see," a fan tweeted.
"Only caught the last few games and quite the turnaround from Wawrinka. Was struggling so badly only a few weeks ago at the US tournaments and here he is, firing on all cylinders against Medvedev. And speaking of Medvedev, he still looked really off to say the least. Wasn't serving well and wasn't returning well (admittedly, Wawrinka was serving pretty well) based on what I saw," a user wrote.
"Maybe because for once, the pressure was gone. Stan had a good run before facing Daniil and nobody would have said a thing if he had lost. Nice to see he still got it. Be afraid next gen, there is another oldie out there meaning business," another tweet read.
Here are some more reactions:
"What he has done since the beginning of his career is insane" - Daniil Medvedev on Carlos Alcaraz
Following the 2022 US Open, Daniil Medvedev lost his No. 1 ranking to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz. In a recent interview, the Russian praised the Spaniard for achieving success at such a young age.
“He’s the youngest world No. 1 ever, and it says a lot because we had quite a few great champions in tennis history," Medvedev said. "The guy plays five set matches, finishes at 3am, recovers, wins the trophy and becomes world No. 1. What he has done since the beginning of his career is just completely insane.”
