Chardy stuns Medvedev in Paris, ends Russian's winning streak

On Tuesday, Russian tennis player and World No. 4 Daniil Medvedev suffered a second-round defeat by French World No. 65 Jeremy Chardy at the Paris Masters ending his streak to reach a seventh straight final. Medvedev took the opening set but slipped to a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 loss at Bercy Arena.

Speaking to the international media Medvedev said, "It’s a shame. At first, I was angry after the match for 10-15 minutes, but afterward, you understand that it’s life. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Even though I lost, I can take it as an experience.”

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The second set on Tuesday ended a streak of 19 consecutive sets won by Medvedev, while the eventual loss snapped a nine-match winning run.

Chardy saved nine break points in the final set to reach the third round of the tournament, defeating Russian Medvedev to a first loss since facing Rafael Nadal in the US Open final. Chardy had not beaten a top-10 player in his previous 10 attempts but can look forward to facing John Isner or Cristian Garin in the third round.

Earlier, Daniil Medvedev had pulled out of the Kremlin Cup citing mental and physical exhaustion. The tournament is being played out in Moscow and Medvedev announced in a press conference that he will be withdrawing from the tournament. 

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Dream run

The Russian has played in six straight tournaments and has played in the finals of all six of them. Medvedev’s run of finals dated back to July, during which he had claimed the Cincinnati and Shanghai Masters titles and lost an epic US Open championship match to Rafael Nadal. His run began with the finals at the Citi Open, Coupe Rogers, Western & Southern Open (Cincinnati Open), US Open, St. Petersburg Open and the Shanghai Masters. He won the Cincinnati Open, St. Petersburg Open and the Shanghai Masters. Medvedev is currently ranked fourth in the world, behind the big three of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal.

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