Medvedev dismantles third-round opponent Wolf at U.S. Open

By Amy Tennery

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Russian Daniil Medvedev rolled through the U.S. Open third round by demolishing American J.J. Wolf 6-3 6-3 6-2 on Saturday.

The third seed seized the early momentum, breaking Wolf’s serve for a 3-2 lead in the first set in which he committed just two unforced errors in a show of near-flawless play.

The Russian, runner-up at Flushing Meadows last year, won the first break point in the second set after a pair of unforced errors from his opponent and appeared totally in control as he fired off eight aces, including one to close out the set.

Wolf matched the hard-hitting Russian's power but a flurry of unforced errors - 41 in the match compared to 10 from Medvedev - proved his undoing.

Back-to-back double faults in the first game of the third set saw a frustrated Wolf kick a tennis ball into the empty stands inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, with spectators barred from the facility due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Medvedev closed out the campaign with four straight points, praising his opponent in an on-court interview.

"I’m sure he’s going to be climbing up the rankings," Medvedev said of his Wolf. "I did everything I could for it to be tough (for him)."

Medvedev, who has not dropped a set so far, told reporters he was confident in his game heading into the second week of the tournament.

"I managed to, let's call it like this, make my opponents miss a lot, return a lot of balls in the court, served quite good," the 24-year-old said.

"I didn't lose a serve before this match, and even this match I managed to keep it on the high level all the match."

He next faces either Marton Fucsovics of Hungary or Frances Tiafoe of the United States in the fourth round.

(Reporting by Amy Tennery; Editing by Ken Ferris and Pritha Sarkar)