A couple of days after playing in the European Open final, Arthur Fils didn't have much resistance against Daniil Medvedev, losing in two sets at the 2023 Vienna Open.
Daniil Medvedev won the Vienna Open last year and he returned with a bang this year, beating a red-hot Arthur Fils in two sets. The Russian is a very capable indoors player and had no issues beating a somewhat tired Fils in two sets.
The opening set was pretty close to the start which isn't a huge surprise. Both players cruised through their service games, however, Medvedev soon created a break chance and converted it immediately to take the lead.
He would hold his serve comfortably finishing it off 6-4 in the opening set. Fils failed to create any kind of pressure on return, winning only two points on the serve of the Russian. That obviously was very bad news for the rest of the match.
Fils would win three points on the serve of Medvedev in the second set, which obviously wasn't enough for a break point, let alone a break. The Russian cruised through his games easily while doing enough on return to frustrate the young French player.
Two breaks were enough this time around to finish things off in two sets for the 6-4 6-2 win. It was a great start for Medvedev, who looked as good as ever in Vienna, losing only a couple of points on his serve altogether as well as breaking his opponent three times overall.
Fils did play in the European Open final last week, which contributed to his loss here as he was rather fatigued and didn't quite know what he was getting into at a new event and new venue.
Medvedev will now face Grigor Dimitrov in the next round, and that's a far more complicated matchup for him. He leads the Bulgarian 5-2 in matches so far.