Daniil Medvedev and the BNP Paribas Open don’t go well together it seems. The Russian star has never managed to advance beyond the Round of 32 in the Californian desert. Last year, Medvedev lost to Grigor Dimitrov at the same venue in a rather surprising fashion. After entering the tournament as the No.1 seed this year, expectations were riding high on Medvedev as he had to perform well to hold on to his No.1 ranking.

But, on Monday, the Russian had yet another bad day at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. He lost in a three-set marathon to Frenchman Gael Monfils. The 35-year-old had conditions in his favor on the slower hard courts in Indian Wells. However, he took time to adjust to his opponent’s game and later gained consistent momentum and put pressure on Medvedev.

Daniil Medvedev failed to give stiff competition to Gael Monfils at Indian Wells 2022

On the other hand, World No.1 couldn’t get any sort of help from the court on his flat strokes as he was unable to sustain baseline rallies against Monfils. With his accurate serve, Medvedev managed to clinch the first set by a narrow margin, 6-4.

But, Monfils had the upper hand right from the latter half of the second set. Medvedev appeared frustrated over the lack of proper shot execution. As a result, unforced errors flew from the Russian’s racquet and he lost the second, 3-6.

During the third set, Medvedev failed to display any sort of resilience as he imploded and gave away the advantage to Gael Monfils. After losing his first two serves in the decider, there was no coming back for the reigning US Open champion as Monfils came out in flying colors to seal the match. This was only the second time that Gael defeated a player ranked No.1 on the ATP tour.

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With this defeat, Daniil Medvedev will lose his no.1 ranking to Novak Djokovic as the Serbian will reign supreme once again on the ATP tour.

It will be clearly frustrating for Medvedev to lose the No.1 spot so quickly.

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But, the Russian can bounce back in Miami, where conditions will suit his style of play.