DAY 2 of the Nitto ATP Finals saw the second half of the field get out on court for the first time, with both Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev coming away with wins.

Novak Djokovic defeated Diego Schwartzman 6-3 6-2

Djokovic came away with the opening win of Day 2 at the ATP Finals, downing Diego Schwartzman and sending a huge warning sign to the rest of the competition with the 78 minute victory. The Serbian was clinical in his 12th straight first round victory here, with only a loss on debut here in 2007 souring his unbeaten opening match streak. This victory also allowed the world number one to draw level on 40 wins for the 2020 season, only matched by Andrey Rublev who went down in straight sets yesterday.

“The beginning of the match wasn’t that great for me. He broke my serve in the third game and I managed to break [back]. It was a close encounter until I broke his serve at 4-3 and managed to close out the first set,” said Djokovic post-match.

Despite the inconsistent start, Djokovic is not world number one for nothing and blew Schwartzman away after collecting the break, utilising his serve in the second half of the match for seven aces and a 77 per cent winning rate off the first serve, backing it up with a 65 per cent effectiveness off the second compared to Schwartzman’s lower efficiency of 35 per cent.

“Everything is difficult against [Novak]. I think what he’s doing when he’s playing his best, he’s moving the ball… to every single point on [the] court,” said Schwartzman. “It’s very difficult to see or to know what he’s going to do and [to] try to make good points… He has a lot of talent when he has the chance to move the ball.”

Daniil Medvedev defeated Alexander Zverev 6-3 6-4

An early lead the way of Medvedev and an uncharacteristically error-ridden Alexander Zverev – hitting four of his seven double faults in his first two service games – told the tale of the second match of the day, with the former coming away with a straight sets victory under pressure from the latter. Zverev made life tough for Medvedev in the second set, rarely allowing the Russian to get a break compared to the first set, but eventually was overcome by the fourth seed who was much more clinical and consistent on serve.

Zverev just did not seem his usual clinical self in this battle, allowing Medvedev to get the upper hand early on, and while he controlled much of proceedings in the second set, just could not contend with the Russian who was fired up and flew out of the blocks. The hour and a half long battle saw Medvedev control his service games well, winning 74 per cent of his first serve points and 57 per cent off his second, and then upped the pressure on return to negate Zverev’s second serve entirely as the German won just four points off his second attempts at 21 per cent efficiency.

Whilst the second set was much tighter, it was a credit to Medvedev for holding off Zverev for the second time in just over a week and earning his first ATP Finals victory, piling on the pressure and maintaining his rhythm for the sold victory.