Daniil Medvedev will return to the courts at the Vienna Open, where he'll take on rising star Arthur Fils in the first round.
Medvedev last played at the Shanghai Masters, and he did fine but was beaten by his kryptonite, Sebastian Korda, in the 3rd round. It's been a strange Asian swing for Medvedev, who had high hopes of the events there but mostly went empty-handed. He played in the China Open final but was beaten by Jannik Sinner.
Indoor season should be good, but facing Arthur Fils in the first round will be tough. The French rising star shines indoors and played really well the previous week in Antwerp, so he'll be coming to the Austrian capital in form.
They have never played so far, which isn't shocking as Fils didn't really take part in ATP tennis much prior to this year. He has a superb game for indoor tennis, so Medvedev will need to be careful. The Russian has ways to counter it, but he's had some issues with indoor tennis before.
This is a pretty tough one to predict On one hand Fils is good enough to give some problems to Medvedev. On the other hand, is he really good enough to beat him? I'm not sure about that because he still lacks the consistency.
Like many young players, he's quite streaky with his tennis which can be amazing but also quite poor in the next game. YOu can't afford that type of streakiness from Medvedev because he'll make you work for every point and eventually, I see Fils hitting a wall.
When that happens, the Russian will certainly use that chance to go ahead, and I don't see him losing that advantage. So basically, back Medvedev to get it done
Prediction: Daniil Medvedev to win in two sets.