Dmitry Medvedev Wins First Clay Title in Tennis: I Like It A Little

Russian tennis champion Daniil Medvedev won the Rome Masters for the first time on clay Saturday, beating Denmark's rising star Holger Rune 7-5, 7-5.

The two sides fought each other all the way, with Medvedev leading 6:5 in the first set with a key break to successfully take advantage of the cards, the second set into a duel, Medvedev broke again in the 12th game, took 1 hour and 42 minutes to win his 20th career title.

Before this match, Medvedev had won 18 of his 19 career titles on hard courts and had visited Rome in one round in his last three visits. But his form on clay has surged this year, with Monte Carlo back in the last eight, a career-best fourth round performance in Madrid and a win in Rome this week, making him the favorite to win the French Open.

Medvedev, who has said in the past that he "hates clay," said of his relationship with it after the match: "Now it's friendship, I still don't think I love clay, I prefer hard court, it's my only love. I mean tennis, now I like clay a little bit."

By the end of the tournament, Medvedev had risen to No. 2 in the world rankings, with Spanish player Carlos Alcaraz returning to No. 1 and Serbian player Novak Djokovic dropping to No. 3.