Daniil Medvedev beat Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 6-3 in the opening round on Friday night, highlighting his position as the clear favourite this week in the desert. With three consecutive triumphs and 14 straight victories, the fifth seed began the BNP Paribas Open as the ATP Tour's most dominant player.
His winning run, which is currently at 15, was never in any danger with a confident performance against the San Diego local. Nakashima fired powerful forehands, displayed excellent defence at times, and even hit a tweener that his opponent volleyed into the net in set two, giving his home audience enough to scream about.
But Medvedev had all the solutions when he needed them, fending off all six break points he faced to win his first ATP Masters 1000 match of the year in an hour and 26 minutes. The next opponent for Medvedev will be Ilya Ivashka, who defeated Botic van de Zandschulp, the 28th seed, by withdrawal with a deficit of 5-7, 2-3.