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The Russian blazed past Stefan Kozlov and
Arthur Rinderknech in the last two rounds and looked every bit
the champion again, as he fired 12 aces and converted six of 12
break points to comfortably dispatch his 22-year-old opponent.
"If you ask me what I could improve, I don't see many things,"
Medvedev said of his title defence. "Maybe a little bit less
double-faults, but that's if we're trying to dig somewhere. If
not, high-level match.
"If I continue this way, have good opportunities to do something
big. But the next match is not easy. Going to try to recover
well and be 100% for the next one."
Medvedev's win in front of an emotional Arthur Ashe Stadium
crowd following Serena Williams' loss to Ajla Tomljanovic meant
he has reached the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows for the
fourth straight year.
Wu, who became the first Chinese man in U.S. Open history to
reach the third round, was plagued by several unforced errors in
the clash as Medvedev prevailed in an hour and 55 minutes.
After sealing a closely contested first set, Medvedev broke
early to race ahead 5-1 in the next and closed it out in style
to take full control of the contest.
The third set followed a similar pattern as Wu crumbled under
the relentless pressure, with Medvedev staying on course to
become the first player to win consecutive U.S. Open titles
since Roger Federer's run of five between 2004 and 2008.
But a defeat to Kyrgios in the next round would see Medvedev
lose his number one ranking to Rafa Nadal after the tournament.
"We've played great matches. All have been quite tight on the
scoreboard," said Medvedev, who has lost three of his four
previous meetings with Kyrgios, including the last one in
Montreal less than a month ago.
"It's 3-1 to him but I'll try to do better this time and it'll
be a great match for people to watch."
Medvedev said he was aware of what he needed to do on Sunday
against the temperamental Australian, who is playing the best
tennis of his career, having finished runner-up at Wimbledon and
winning in Washington, D.C. in the lead-up to U.S. Open.
"I don't think we are friends. When I say 'friends', we haven't
been to the bar together," Medvedev said with a smile.
"I feel like we respect each other a lot. On the court also we
never really had any fight or anything, which can change any
moment. We are both quite electric. You never know what's going
to happen in the future.
"Nick is a little bit different from other tennis players
sometimes on the court. That's his choice. That's his life. I'm
not the one to judge."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru and Sudipto
Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and William
Mallard)
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