Medvedev moves to second round at China Open after beating Norrie, admits ‘I can play much, much better’ – While breaking serve five times in just over an hour

Cameron Norrie couldn’t play his best tennis in Beijing. He made a lot of unforced errors, which gave his opponent an easy advantage. Even though world No. 11 Medvedev wasn’t playing at his highest level, he still took control of the match.

Medvedev broke Norrie’s serve five times in a match that lasted only 1 hour and 15 minutes. He often attacked Norrie’s forehand, which was clearly struggling.

Norrie looked uncomfortable throughout the match and wasn’t able to challenge Medvedev much. This performance shows that Norrie is still having trouble staying consistent, especially when playing strong opponents.

Medvedev will continue his winning excellence in court against Spain-born Alejandro Davidovich on Sunday, September 28, 2025.

Medvedev and Davidovich have played against each other five times, with Medvedev winning four of those matches and Davidovich winning once. Their first meeting was in the 2021 Madrid Open, where Medvedev won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.

They met again in Rotterdam 2023, where Medvedev came from a set down to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Later in that same year, in the Indian Wells 2023 quarterfinals, Medvedev won again, 6-3, 7-5. In Dubai 2024, Medvedev continued his winning streak with a 6-2, 6-3 victory.

But things turned around for Davidovich as he finally got his first win over the 29-year-old in the 2024 Montreal Masters, beating him 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.

Russian tennis star Medvedev explained to the media that he had a lot of chances but did not take advantage, and his performance was poor.

“I didn’t play badly, I served pretty well except for a couple of games, same on the return.

“I had a lot of chances to break, and I think I deserve to win in terms of the game plan and the stats, so I’m happy to go through.

“I can play much, much better than that. The way back is step by step, and this was a small step forward.

“I was trying to be aggressive. And I think I did. I hit a lot of winners.”