Defending Rome champion Daniil Medvedev survives onslaught from Hamad Medjedovic

ROME, Italy—Daniil Medvedev withstood an incredible challenge from Hamad Medjedovic, surviving the 20-year-old rising star, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-5 to reach the fourth round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

"I was not playing the way I wanted to," Medvedev said straight off court after the match. "I never found the rhythm I wanted in any shot, to be honest. But the most important is to win; it's always better to win, 6-0, 6-0, but we don't see it this often on ATP tour. Happy with the win, tomorrow is a new day when I try to improve what didn't work today.

"He was also playing well, so that really complicated things. But I'm happy to win!"

Medvedev held on through numerous momentum shifts and some spectacular hitting from the young Serb, who won the Next Generation ATP Finals last December, to advance in two hours and 50 minutes on Campo Centrale.

The No. 2 seed is the highest ranked man left in the men’s draw since Novak Djokovic exited the tournament on Sunday, but after a straight-set win over Jack Draper, the defending champion noted slower conditions at the Foro Italico than when he lifted the trophy 12 months ago.

Medjedovic, by contrast, plays a game tailor made for clay, blending a mix of powerful topspin with deft touch, rolling through qualifying and reaching the third round without dropping a set, upsetting No. 30 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to book the clash with Medvedev.

Medvedev channeled his wider breadth of experience on the outset, breaking early and easing to a 4-2 lead. But as would be the case for most of the match, Medjedovic was never far behind, breaking Medvedev twice en route to a first set tiebreaker.

Shaking off some struggles on serve, Medvedev clinched the Sudden Death but was soon behind in the second, getting broken twice more as Medjedovic forced a deciding set.

"He hits heavy. He hits strong. There is a lot of clay on this court so the bounce, especially when you hit heavy, are a bit unpredictable. I found myself going back on a lot of my shots, and when you got back, you don't have the power. There were a lot of things where I didn't control what I wanted to control. Maybe it was only because of him, but I felt like I was missing the energy today."

Just when Medvedev appeared to have the match under control, playing pristine tennis to take 4-1 lead in the third, Medjedovic surged back, leveling the set at four games apieace amid a rowdy atmosphere.

"I felt like between the points it was fine but at one moment, there were some guys who were yelling a little on his serve. I was struggling also because it was just before his return. The energy could have been different where maybe you talk less between points.

"I remember Frances [Tiafoe] and Nick [Kyrgios] had a coversation where they thought matches should have more noise. I personally think no, but if there was permanent noise, no one would care. Since there is no noise, one person yelling something can really throw you off."

Experience ultimately won out as Medvedev broke a weary Medjedovic one last time to secure victory in just under three hours.

Standing between the defending champion and a second straight quarterfinal in Rome is No. 14 seed Tommy Paul, who made much quicker work of his third-round opposition, Dominik Koepfer, to reach the Round of 16. Paul nearly beat Medvedev on slow conditions at the BNP Paribas Open in March, but the former world No. 1 rallied to win in three.

"I'll just need to reset. I won the match, so I'll do some physio work and go to sleep, try to play better tomorrow."

2023 finalist Holger Rune was less successful in his three-set effort, bottoming out to No. 17 seed Sebastian Baez, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.