Daniil Medvedev beat Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6–4, 6–4 in Dubai’s second round on February 26, 2025. In their first meeting, the tournament reported three aces for the powerful French server and six for Medvedev.
Medvedev described protecting his own service games as a priority. He also said he wanted to make baseline exchanges count once Mpetshi Perricard was neither at net nor presented with an easy attacking ball.
Ace totals measure something different from serve speed. Here they count untouched service winners, rather than compare the fastest single delivery. Points that continued through a return and a rally require a further question about what happened after contact.
The 2023 Dubai champion was set to face Tallon Griekspoor, who had beaten defending champion Ugo Humbert, in the quarterfinals. The straight-sets win offers a specific order of tasks against a big server: protect service games and plan the exchange once the return is in play.
