Medvedev overcomes nosebleed, underarm serve at Open

Daniil Medvedev insisted a mid-match nosebleed was not a serious problem as he overcame an underarm serve and stiff resistance from Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez Thursday to book his Australian Open third-round ticket.

The Russian fourth seed was pressed hard in a competitive first set before grinding down the 22-year-old 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 with the roof closed on Margaret Court Arena.

He plays Australia's Alexei Popyrin next in Melbourne.

"It was not easy, especially the first set, but I managed to stay there the whole match and came through because he has less experience," said Medvedev, who won four titles last year and was runner-up at the US Open.

He was up 5-0 in the second set when he required a medical timeout with blood dripping from his nose, something that also interrupted his Australian Open last year.

"Well, I was bleeding from the nose, which can happen to me sometimes. Doesn't usually happen during the match so I had to stop it," said the 23-year-old.

"Usually takes like four minutes, three, four minutes. I called the physio so he could help me to stop it. But it's nothing." While nosebleeds are a recurring issue, he said they did not happen often enough to be a major problem.

"Let's say it happens maybe two times a year or maybe once. I remember it actually happened at last year's Australian Open in the first round."
"But if he would make a good one, I think I would be in trouble. But it was really a bad one, so I had the ball easy."