Daniil Medvedev recovered No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday. He lost little time in putting that status on display on the court at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle two days later. The top seed dominated David Goffin 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday to advance to the second round of the ATP 500 event in Germany for the first time.
Goffin had won the pair's only previous tour-level match on grass, a five-set victory in the third round at Wimbledon in 2019, and the Belgian was far from out of sorts in the first-round encounter. Yet, from the start on OWL Arena, Medvedev maintained a consistently high level, leaving the 2019 finalist with few opportunity to reply in a 64-minute match.
Medvedev appeared to be in command of a high-quality opening set owing to a break in the fourth game, but Goffin's clean-hitting carved out a break-back opportunity as he served for it at 5-3. However, the World No. 1's ability to find huge serves at crucial moments had marked his journey to the final of the Libema Open in's-Hertogenbosch last week, and his delivery was perfect once more as he fended off the break point at 30/40 before converting his second set point.
In the second set, Medvedev's all-around performance made it increasingly difficult for World No. 39 Goffin to keep up with him. Medvedev stormed to a 4-0 lead, and despite needing a great serve to fend off break point and hold for 5-1, the top seed was confident in serving out the match after hitting 17 winners, including six aces.