Daniil Medvedev has not only somewhat returned to the form that took him to ATP No. 1; seems to regress completely. He showed it against Rei Sakamoto in the second round of the Miami Open, but make no mistake: his opponent, Rei Sakamoto, will be a force on tour for a while.
Until the 19-year-old Japanese player ran out of gas at the end of the second set, he matched the Russian’s great shot for shot. He even kept his cool in a tense first set tie-break, eventually beating Medvedev 11-9. At that moment, Sakamoto seemed ready to fully announce himself to tennis fans.
He couldn’t maintain that form throughout the match and will learn from it. Furthermore, Medvedev improved his game as elite players do, especially in terms of his backhand, for which Sakamoto had no answer in the third set.
Daniil Medvedev defeats the young Japanese Rei Sakamoto at the Miami Open 2026
After losing the first set 6-7, the Russian got two breaks in the second set to take the lead 6-3. The third set was not a real contest. Medvedev jumped out to a 4-0 lead, and after Sakamoto was able to avoid the ATP No. 10 in his service game, the Russian held to love to move to 5-1. The outcome of the match was no longer in doubt.
However, fans learned two things from the second round game. One is that Daniil Medvedev has returned to being a real threat on hard courts. He has won many titles in his career on the surface, but he is by far the best. He has changed his serve by increasing his jump and has added two inches to the point where he hits the ball.
That increased his first serve percentage and increased his service game winning percentage by five percent. That’s a big difference for a player whose defensive skills have always been elite.
Assuming he continues to play his same form, he could challenge for the US Open crown later this year. That would be his second title in New York.
The other part that fans learned is that Rei Sakamoto has the forehand and serve to become a very good player on the ATP circuit. He needs to work on his conditioning and simply needs successful experience against big players, but he has the raw skills to eventually be a continued top-10 piece.
Medvedev finally took the third set 6-1. In the third round of the Miami Open he will face the winner of the match Francisco Cerundolo and Thiago Agustín Tirante.