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World no. 3 Daniil Medvedev scored his first Rome Masters victory on Sunday. The Russian faced Emil Ruusuvuori in the second round and scored a 6-4, 6-2 triumph in an hour and 28 minutes for his first win at the prestigious clay-court event.
Daniil trailed 3-0 in the opener before raising his level and rattling off 12 of the final 15 games to sail over the top in style. The Russian struggled behind the second serve and lost serve two times in both sets' early stages.
He never faced issues behind the initial shot by the end of the clash, erasing the deficit and overpowering the Finn for a straight-sets victory. Daniil had 12 winners and 23 errors, firing respectable 15 service winners and doing everything right after a slow start.
Ruusuvuori could not find the range behind the initial shot, giving away half of the points in his games and getting broken five times from six chances offered to Medvedev.
Daniil Medvedev ousted Emil Ruusuvuori for a winning start in Rome.
Daniil built the advantage in the shortest range up to four strokes, bringing the victory home. Emil held at 15 with a forehand winner in the encounter's first game and grabbed a break in game two following Daniil's double fault.
The young Finn produced a hold at love in game three to open a handful 3-0 lead in nine minutes, hoping for more in the rest of the set. Instead, Medvedev pulled the break back in game five after an extended exchange and held at 15 in the next one with a booming serve to lock the result at 3-3 and gain confidence.
Both players served well in games seven and eight, and Ruusuvuori wished for more at 4-4. He netted a routine backhand and offered his rival three break chances. Daniil seized the third to secure a crucial break and open a 5-4 advantage.
The Russian served for the set in game ten and held after deuce with a service winner for 6-4 in 44 minutes. They traded breaks at the start of the second set, and Medvedev clinched another at 1-1 when Ruusuvuori netted an easy backhand.
Daniil landed a service winner in game four to cement the advantage and opened a 4-2 lead with a smash winner at the net two games later. Emil sprayed a forehand error in the seventh game to drop serve for the third time in the second set and allow Daniil to serve for the win at 5-2.
Medvedev seized the third match point in game eight with an ace down the T line for his first victory at the Rome Masters.