Medvedev enters Brisbane QF; Lehecka retires with ankle injury, Pegula prevails

Top seed Daniil Medvedev swept past former world No. 10 Frances Tiafoe on Wednesday, reaching the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International. On the heels of a convincing first-round win over Marton Fucsovics, the 29-year-old Russian delivered a clinical hour of tennis and secured a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Medvedev hit 21 winners, including nine aces, almost double his opponent’s. He won 91 per cent of first-serve points and never faced a break point.
“The court is pretty fast, so you need to serve well and I’m happy with how I served. I feel like it was better than the first round. From the first point it puts a lot of pressure on your opponent, got a couple of good games on his serve. It was enough today, that’s how tennis is sometimes,” Medvedev said.
Meanwhile, reigning champion Jiri Lehecka had to retire due to a right ankle injury while trailing 3-6, 2-1 against American Sebastian Korda. Lehecka’s injury retirement pitted Korda against Alex Michelsen in the quarterfinals, who had earlier beaten eighth seed Learner Tien, to set up an all-American clash.
Elsewhere, fourth seed Jessica Pegula got her season underway with a victory, defeating Anna Kalinskaya 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 to reach the third round in Brisbane.
Pegula improved the head-to-head to 4-1 after twice rebounding from a break down in the deciding set.
“I can’t believe I played Anna first match of the year. We’ve had so many long intense crazy matches last year, so it was a real test for me today, especially having a bye the first round, not having any matches under me,” Pegula said.
“I knew it was going to be tough, she’s such a great player. She can really take the racquet out of your hand, change the direction of the ball so well, so I kind of figured out just in time and competed really well, maybe got a little lucky here and there too,” she added.