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DUBAI: Under the afternoon sun, the seeds blossomed. Day 2 of ATP 500 week at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships started with Daniil Medvedev showing clinical efficiency to dispatch China’s Juncheng Shang in little more than an hour. The Russian, seeded third this week and champion here in 2023, moved through the match with confidence to seal a 6-1, 6-3 win and set-up a last-16 tie with Stan Wawrinka.
Shang, the 21-year-old ranked World No. 262, has offered flashes of promise in recent months despite the inevitable growing pains of a young professional. In early January, he reached the quarterfinals in Hong Kong, a result that hinted at an upward trajectory, but consistency has since proved elusive and he had lost three of his previous four matches, including a 4-6, 2-6 defeat to Medvedev last week in Doha.
The rematch provided little reversal of fortune as Medvedev struck 20 winners and 10 aces, dictating play from the baseline and rarely allowing rallies to drift beyond his control. On serve, the World No. 11 was especially untouchable, capturing 81 percent of his first-serve points over the course of the contest to condemn Shang to consecutive defeats in subsequent weeks.
