Daniil Medvedev admitted he was "very tight and very nervous" during his hard-fought win over Lorenzo Sonego in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Wednesday.
Defending champion Medvedev overcame a lacklustre first set to claim a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over the Italian in exactly two hours, but the Russian will know he will need to improve his level if he is to retain a title for the first time in his career.
"It was a very tough match in general. I was feeling very tight, very nervous. It could be for many different reasons, but that was the case," Medvedev, 28, said. "When it's like this, it's tougher to play because usually I'm not [nervous]. Usually, it's different nerves that I'm used to, but this one was kind of new.
"Straight away after I lost [points] and missed some shots, I look at my team, I start whining. That's when it's probably not going to be good. At one moment I managed to gather myself together.
"Finally, I didn't lose my serve after that moment. So in general, happy to win it in tough conditions. Sometimes you need to do it like this. If I want to win the next matches, I have to be better. But a win is a win."
How much of the uncharacteristic nerves can be attributed to Medvedev's lack of recent matches only he and his team will fully know, but it wouldn't be a surprise if that played a significant part. The Russian has not played any tournaments in the past month, not since losing the Australian Open final to Jannik Sinner.
Medvedev was slow out of the blocks, getting broken immediately as Sonego moved into a 3-0 lead. The top seed briefly got the set back on serve at 3-2 but was broken again and could have lost the set more heavily had he not saved six set points in the eighth game.
Still, that didn't stop the Italian from taking a deserved lead, leaving Medvedev facing an early exit if he did not quickly find another level.
The Russian's serve improved significantly in the second set, and there was nothing between the two players for most of it until Medvedev finally made his breakthrough, earning his first break of the Sonego serve at the ideal time to take a 5-3 lead before comfortably serving it out to level the match.
By the start of the third set, Medvedev had clearly shaken off those early nerves and was the player in control. He broke Sonego in the fifth and ninth games to claim the victory and advance to the quarter-finals, where he will face Spanish eighth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Thursday.
Medvedev's victory came after Andy Murray exited the tournament in straight sets to French fifth seed Ugo Humbert, and the British former world No 1 stated afterwards that he is planning to retire after this summer.
On hearing the news, Medvedev paid tribute to the three-time Grand Slam champion, saying: "First of all, he's a fun guy, a great guy to be around. That's always a great quality in life. For sure he's an inspiration of mine because I remember when I was just going up the rankings, that's the moment when he was winning slams, playing finals against Roger, Rafa and Novak. So the big four.
"It's going to be sad when he retires. Even I'm definitely not sure that he's going to stop this year. Wimbledon is a big tournament, maybe Wimbledon and then stop. But while he's here, it's going to be fun. [When] he's not here, I'm sure he's going to find a good spot in his life after tennis."
BABYLON
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The specs: 2018 Renault Koleos
Price, base: From Dh77,900
Engine: 2.5L, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 170hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 233Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.3L / 100km
Dr Graham's three goals
Short term
Establish logistics and systems needed to globally deploy vaccines
Intermediate term
Build biomedical workforces in low- and middle-income nations
Long term
A prototype pathogen approach for pandemic preparedness
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer
Christopher Celenza,
Reaktion Books
The biog
Favourite colour: Brown
Favourite Movie: Resident Evil
Hobbies: Painting, Cooking, Imitating Voices
Favourite food: Pizza
Trivia: Was the voice of three characters in the Emirati animation, Shaabiyat Al Cartoon
Results
International 4, United States 1
Justin Thomas and Tiger Woods (US) beat Marc Leishman and Joaquin Niemann (International) 4 and 3.
Adam Hadwin and Sungjae Im (International) beat Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay (US) 2 up.
Adam Scott and Byeong Hun An (International) beat Bryson DeChambeau and Tony Finau (US) 2 and 1.
Hideki Matsuyama and C.T. Pan (International) beat Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed (US) 1 up.
Abraham Ancer and Louis Oosthuizen (International) beat Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland (US) 4 and 3.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
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Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
Tales of Yusuf Tadros
Adel Esmat (translated by Mandy McClure)
Hoopoe
The specs: 2018 Peugeot 5008
Price, base / as tested: Dh99,900 / Dh134,900
Engine: 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power: 165hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 240Nm @ 1,400rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.8L / 100km
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Brief scores:
Manchester City 3
Bernardo Silva 16', Sterling 57', Gundogan 79'
Bournemouth 1
Wilson 44'
Man of the match: Leroy Sane (Manchester City)
MATCH DETAILS
Manchester United 3
Greenwood (21), Martial (33), Rashford (49)
Partizan Belgrade 0
The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
Amitav Ghosh, University of Chicago Press
Ferrari
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Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
The%20Boy%20and%20the%20Heron
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Tomb%20Raider%20I%E2%80%93III%20Remastered
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Champion%20v%20Champion%20(PFL%20v%20Bellator)
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESupy%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDani%20El-Zein%2C%20Yazeed%20bin%20Busayyis%2C%20Ibrahim%20Bou%20Ncoula%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFood%20and%20beverage%2C%20tech%2C%20hospitality%20software%2C%20Saas%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%20size%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%20for%20six%20months%3B%20pre-seed%20round%20of%20%241.5%20million%3B%20seed%20round%20of%20%248%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBeco%20Capital%2C%20Cotu%20Ventures%2C%20Valia%20Ventures%20and%20Global%20Ventures%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
ACC%20T20%20Women%E2%80%99s%20Championship
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