Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 19, 2026 Russia's Daniil Medvedev reacts during his first round match against Netherlands' Jesper de Jong REUTERS/Tingshu Wang

Medvedev turns up the aggression to beat De Jong at Australian Open

19 Jan 2026, 03:54 · CNA · Join

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MELBOURNE, Jan 19 : Former world number one Daniil Medvedev began his Australian Open campaign with a 7-5 6-2 7-6(2) victory over Jesper de Jong to move into the second round on Monday.

Medvedev, a three-time Australian Open finalist, is hoping to use the momentum from his title win in Brisbane, but in sunny conditions the players served poorly in the opening set which had five breaks of serve.

However, 11th seed Medvedev got the job done when he broke at 5-5 before serving out the set, clinching it with an emphatic backhand winner just before the hour-mark.

If the opening set was a roller-coaster, the second set was one-way traffic as Medvedev raced into a 4-0 lead through consistent pressure, mixing forehand and backhand winners as he capitalised on De Jong’s frequent errors.

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Despite moments of resistance from De Jong, Medvedev's aggression at key points saw him surge ahead while the Russian toyed with his opponent at the net, going 2-0 up in the match with ease.

Medvedev broke early in the third set to go 2-1 up and then took his foot off the gas, happy to serve out the set. But two double faults at 5-4 allowed Dutchman De Jong to level and eventually force a tiebreak, where the Russian made no mistake to wrap things up.

Medvedev turns up the aggression to beat De Jong at Australian Open

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