Daniil Medvedev lost his opening match at the Paris Masters 1000 for the fifth time on Wednesday, as Peru’s Ignacio Buse beat the fourth seed 6-4, 6-4 in 1 hour 40 minutes in the second round. The Russian, champion in Paris in 2020, said the conditions left him unable to find his rhythm.

“The ball doesn’t go from the racket. It’s fast but not fast,” Medvedev said after the match. “I mean, because I can feel that the surface is kind of fast, but to make a winner is almost impossible.”

Medvedev, who had a first-round bye, has now lost his first match in five of his nine main-draw appearances at the event. “There are not many indoor hard-court tournaments where I lose, I think, it’s fifth time first round,” he said. “It’s always, you need to get one match to get it going, and I didn’t.”

How Medvedev found his rhythm in Paris in 2020

Medvedev has shown he can be at his best here, as his title run in 2020 proved. But even that week, he said, an early exit was never far away.

“If you look the first match against Kevin Anderson, when I won, I was putting some returns outside the court,” Medvedev said. “That was horrendous level. (…) And then was a horrendous level in the first set against de Minaur. And then somehow I got the groove. So I need a bit of a rhythm here. And this year I didn’t have enough time.”

Medvedev’s memory is accurate. Anderson retired in the first-set tie-break of their second-round match, and in the third round Medvedev lost the first set to Alex de Minaur before winning 5-7, 6-2, 6-2. He went on to beat Alexander Zverev 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 in the final.

Medvedev at the Paris Masters, year by year

2017: lost in the first round of qualifying to Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-4
2018: second round, beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-2, 6-2, lost to Borna Coric 6-4, 6-4
2019: second round after a bye, lost to Jeremy Chardy 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
2020: champion, beat Alexander Zverev 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 in the final
2021: final, lost to Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
2022: second round after a bye, lost to Alex de Minaur 6-4, 2-6, 7-5
2023: second round after a bye, lost to Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2)
2024: second round after a bye, lost to Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (4)
2025: quarter-finals, lost to Alexander Zverev 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5)
2026: second round after a bye, lost to Ignacio Buse 6-4, 6-4

In bold: opening-match defeats. Source: ATP.

How Buse beat Medvedev in Paris

The opening set of his match against Buse went with serve until the 10th game. Buse saved two break points in his first service game and another at 3-3, while Medvedev saved two when trailing 3-2. Serving at 4-5, the Russian was broken from 30-30, and Buse took the set on his first set point.

Medvedev broke for 3-2 in the second set and led 4-2. Buse saved two break points to hold for 3-4, then won five points in a row from 0-40 on Medvedev’s serve to break back for 4-4. He held for 5-4 and broke again, converting his first match point.

The second set also brought some classic Daniil episodes with the chair umpire. Asked about them after the match, he only smiled. “I don’t know, I feel like they wanted to disqualify me,” he said.

Medvedev made 27 unforced errors, 18 of them in the second set, to Buse’s 17. The Peruvian saved five of the six break points he faced.

“Even sometimes I was at the net and I was kind of early because I was like, okay, I was waiting for the ball to come to me,” Medvedev said. “It’s a bit of a strange atmosphere which you need to get used to. And again I didn’t get used to it this year.”

Buse becomes the first Peruvian in the Paris last 16

Buse, 22 and ranked No. 33, became the first Peruvian to win a match at the event on Monday, and he is now the first to reach the last 16. He has won two titles this season, in Hamburg and Winston-Salem, and will face Karen Khachanov of Russia or Portuguese lucky loser Nuno Borges, who meet later on Wednesday.

Medvedev, who has already qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, has won four titles this season, in Brisbane, Dubai, Hangzhou and Almaty. His record at the Rolex Paris Masters now stands at 12-8.

Rolex Paris Masters 2026 second-round results

Lorenzo Musetti d. Alexander Zverev (1) 7-6 (5), 6-2
Luca Van Assche d. Learner Tien (15) 7-6 (4), 6-4
Novak Djokovic (10) vs Rinky Hijikata (Q) (Wednesday)
Tomas Martin Etcheverry d. Alex de Minaur (8) 7-6 (2), 6-3
Ben Shelton (3) d. Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4
Arthur Rinderknech d. Mattia Bellucci (Q) 6-4, 6-1
Tommy Paul (12) d. Daniel Merida 6-1, 6-1
Quentin Halys d. Frances Tiafoe (7) 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (9)
Thiago Agustin Tirante (LL) vs Jan-Lennard Struff (SE) (Wednesday)
Casper Ruud d. Rafael Jodar (9) 6-3, 6-4
Nuno Borges (LL) vs Karen Khachanov (Wednesday)
Ignacio Buse d. Daniil Medvedev (4) 6-4, 6-4
Arthur Fils (6) vs Tomas Machac (Q) (Wednesday)
Alex Molcan (Q) vs Taylor Fritz (11) (Wednesday)
Matteo Berrettini vs Ugo Humbert (Wednesday)
Alex Michelsen vs Carlos Alcaraz (2) (Wednesday)

In bold: today’s results.