Jack-of-all-trades "Masters": how Medvedev and Khachanov started in Paris

The "Russian Troika" got off to a successful start at the Paris Masters. Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev were able to break their streak of five defeats in a row, and Daniil Medvedev took revenge on Spaniard Jaume Munyar. Next, Medvedev, who has once again become the first racket of Russia, will meet with Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who has been holding his first tournament since the beginning of July.

The Bulgarian frontier

The Paris Masters, to put it mildly, is not Medvedev's favorite tournament. He hasn't been able to win a single match here in the last three years. Last year, Daniil lost in three sets to Alexey Popyrin in the 1/16 finals. This time he started from the first round, as he was not among the top eight seeds and had to face Jaume Munyar. It was exciting for two reasons. The Spaniard has already beaten the Russian at the end of March 2025 in Miami, and has recently gained excellent form. In Shanghai, Munyar reached the 1/8 finals, where he was stopped only by Novak Djokovic, and last week he won in Switzerland. In Basel, he beat Ben Shelton and Felix Auger-Alliassim, but in the semifinals he could not cope with the future tournament champion Juan Fonseca.

The Brazilian, by the way, made a successful start in Paris, defeating Denis Shapovalov in three heavy sets. Fonseca will next play with Karen Khachanov, who has no problems with Ethan Quinn. Let's hope that Karen will be noticeably fresher and will pass her 19-year-old opponent at her favorite Masters (she won this tournament in 2018). Munyar, unlike Felix, was unable to continue his successful streak.

He lost the first set to Medvedev in just 29 minutes. The Spaniard made a lot of unforced errors and looked very weak at the reception. Daniel's work is also worth noting here. He moved around the court very well, repeatedly receiving the applause of not only the audience, but also his updated coaching staff, who arrived in the French capital in full force.

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The second game turned out to be much more intense. Munyar began to act much more confidently, but Daniel began to make mistakes quite often (at the end of two sets, 16:16 on unforced). In the third game, it almost cost him a lost serve. He made a double mistake with a huge out on the line, but after that he was able to pull himself together after making two cool draws. The decisive moment of the set came in the sixth game. The Spaniard started his serve at 0:40, but then won back two break points in long draws. Medvedev was breathing heavily, and it seemed that if Houma could win back here, then a turning point could come in the game. However, in another protracted exchange of punches, Munyar struck out. Daniil won the next game with a jewel-like shortened shot, deciding on such a shot at 40:30, and serving for the match, he made an important ace at 30:30 and finished the game from the very first matchball.

For the first time since 2021, the Russian completed a round at the Masters in Paris, securing 12th place in the ATP rankings. Grigor Dimitrov is waiting for Daniil in the second round. The 34-year-old Bulgarian defeated Frenchman Giovanni Mpetchi Perricar. — 7:6 (7:5), 6:1 — and he won his first victory after an injury sustained at Wimbledon (then Grigor led 2-0 in sets against Yannick Sinner, but could not finish the match due to a partial rupture of the pectoral muscle).

No chance

Karen Khachanov approached the Masters in Paris with a five-game losing streak that began in the second round of the US Open. Then the Russian lost to Kamil Maikhshak, not finishing the Czech tennis player with 2:0 in sets in his favor. Putting the squeeze on the Czech tennis player. After that, the singles defeats went one after the other. Moreover, I lost all but one match to Karen in the decisive game, but it didn't make it much easier.

His friend and doubles partner Andrei Rublev had a similar series of failures, and Andrei interrupted it in Paris by dealing with Jacob Fearnley, who had qualified. (6:1, 6:4). Khachanov also had to play with his opponent Ethan Quinn, who had overcome the sieve of two qualifying matches.

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Initially, Karen's opponent was supposed to be different. In the first round draw, he got Benjamin Bonzi, who knocked Daniil Medvedev out of two Slams in a row this year (Wimbledon and the US Open). But the Frenchman, who was guaranteed the support of the local public, withdrew from the tournament due to injury, the grid was slightly redone, and Khachanov's opponent was the qualifier. 21-year-old Quinn has something in common with 24-year-old Fearnley: both studied at university in the USA and played tennis for their universities. However, Ethan proved himself at this level more vividly and made his professional tour debut earlier than Jacob, at the age of 19. He is rising in the rankings and this summer he debuted in the top 100, and now ranks 71st. Khachanov was recently in the top ten, but after failures he dropped to 14th place.

Despite this emotional downturn, Quinn lasted exactly an hour against Khachanov. However, it's not just about Karen's confident game, but also about Ethan's own actions. After a couple of good draws, the American started giving points himself, making mistakes for every taste: from the forehand, from the backhand, and from the summer. In the end, Quinn took only two games, allowing Karen to gain much-needed confidence.