To beat Daniil Medvedev once on a hard court is already impressive. But Sebastian Korda, having already upset the world No.3 and renowned hard-court competitor at the Australian Open in January, has now done it twice a year.
With a straight-sets win over Medvedev in the third round of the Rolex Shanghai Masters on Sunday, Korda claimed his first victory over a top-five opponent. He also ended the Russian's hopes of defending the ATP Masters 1000 title he claimed in Shanghai in 2019.
Korda did so with the big-serving tennis that saw him peak at world No.25 in June this year. But composure was arguably the most impressive feature in his 7-6(8) 6-2 victory, with the American saving three set points in the opening set.
"We played really good tennis from the beginning," Korda said following the 7-6(8) 6-2 victory in an hour and 28 minutes. "We had some long rallies. I'm just really happy to get that first set under my belt and then it was just a matter of getting into one of his service games and hopefully taking it home after."
Recording 32 winners against 13 unforced errors, Korda's best moment came when he saved set point by turning defence into attack while trailing 6-7 in the first-set tiebreak.
"It was definitely one of the points of the year for me, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm just very happy with the way I played today," he smiled.
The timing, much like Korda's composure, was perfect. After his upset of Medvedev in Australia, he progressed to the quarterfinals in a career-best Grand Slam performance, only for injury to force his withdrawal. It kept the American off tour for months.
"It's been a very difficult year for sure," Korda said. "I had a long pause on my year for three months, especially when I was playing some of the best tennis of my career so far. It was difficult, but it's a long journey and I'm happy with the way I played today. It's definitely one of the biggest victories in my career for sure."
With his goal to win a 61st match this year - just two short of the 63 matches he claimed for all of his previous-best season in 2021 - at the Rolex Shanghai Masters no longer possible, Medvedev acknowledged the lost opportunity.
He noted that double faults were costly, especially with Korda serving so well. "That's how tennis is, you know," he added. "He was on a good day, he played good, won a good set point. I made double faults on a set point, and that's why he's through to the next round."
With a new name guaranteed on the Rolex Shanghai Masters Selangor pewter trophy at the end of this tournament, some other big names were pleased to progress.
Andrey Rublev, the No.5 seed, completed a satisfying second-round win over Quentin Halys in just over an hour. He withstood 17 aces, and launched 14 of his own, in the 6-4 7-5 win.
"With him, you need to really return good and to serve good and today, I think I was serving one of my best matches in a while and the same with the return," Rublev said of the French world No.76.
Casper Ruud, the No.9 seed, progressed to the final 16 with a solid all-round victory against Christopher Eubanks. While victory was recorded in one hour and 12 minutes, Ruud noted that it was a tougher match than the 6-4 6-2 suggested.
"It was very good from first to last point. Christopher has had a tremendous year. He's taken several steps in his game and his ranking and he's a dangerous player on any surface but particularly here on hard court," Ruud said.
"I was ready for a tough match and it was, even though 6-4 6-2 sounds comfortable but it wasn't. It Doesn't do justice to the match. But most of the big points, long rallies, long games, kind of went in my favour and that's kind of how I felt match went."
As rain-delayed second round matches were completed on Sunday, Karen Khachanov moved on in Shanghai, completing a three-set win over Beibit Zhukayev. Grigor Dimitrov, Daniel Evans, who will next face Carlos Alcaraz, and Ugo Humbert were among other seeds to progress.
Fils, a 19-year-old Frenchman, continued his stunning run in Shanghai with a straight-sets upset of No.24 seed Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina 6-2 7-5.
It was a tougher day for Frances Tiafoe and Cameron Norrie. The 10th-seeded Tiafoe exited in three sets to Lorenzo Sonego, while JJ Wolf claimed an upset three-set win over Norrie, the 15th seed.
