Tennis: Medvedev prospers in dream world: A wry Ukrainian serves up a cocktail of wit and grit to set up a meeting with Edberg

THE hammer and sickle of the old Soviet Union was flown here but once in honour of a champion at the Monte Carlo Open, when the Russian Andrei Chesnokov won the title in 1990.

Andrei Medvedev is three matches away from raising the Ukrainian flag to prominence on the Centre Court this week, having already eclipsed the wry Muscovite as a humourist. This is no mean feat. Chesnokov was once described by L'Equipe as a Marxist with Groucho tendencies.

Yesterday, for example, Medvedev was asked if his habit of closing his eyes during the changeovers was some special mental exercise. 'When I close my eyes,' he said, 'I am dreaming of being in a fast car, being with a girlfriend probably, or laying on a beach where there is a cocktail waiting for me. I do this because on the (clay) court there is not so much fun. You see my socks? They are so dirty I have to go to the laundry. I have to think about something nice, at least on the changeovers.'

As far as the tennis is concerned, the 18-year-old from Kiev is potentially the best prospect to emerge from eastern Europe since Ivan Lendl. During the past month he has added the Estoril and Barcelona titles to the three ATP Tour events he won last year, and yesterday he advanced to the quarter-finals here by defeating Richard Krajicek, 6-3, 6-4. This was an important psychological victory, because the young Dutchman won their only previous match in straight sets on a carpet court in Stuttgart in February.

Rapid progress brings promising players head-to-head with the elite, and Medvedev's next opponent is Stefan Edberg, the top seed and winner of six Grand Slam titles.

Victory tomorrow would guarantee Medvedev a place in the world top 10 and Edberg anticipates an interesting encounter. 'Everbody has sort of been waiting for him to come through,' the Swede said, 'and now he's really putting it together.'

On surfaces other than clay, Edberg is good enough to ensure his opponents rarely are late for cocktails. But the Swede has yet to win the French Open, the one major championship played on slow courts similar to the ones here, and he has already been through a couple of tricky matches.

Henri Leconte looked unplayable in the first set of Edberg's opening match before disappearing in the dust, and Javier Sanchez actually served for the match against the Swede yesterday.

This was at 5-4 in the second set, when Edberg's resolve created three break points and the Spaniard finally cracked, playing a backhand wide. Edberg then won a tie-break, 7-3, and took control in the final set to win, 2-6, 7-6, 6-2.

'I felt I wasn't moving as well as I need to do when I am playing a guy like Javier, who hits a lot of balls back,' Edberg said. 'He caught me off-balance a little bit to begin with.' But at least Edberg survived, which is more than could be said for Michael Stich, the 1991 Wimbledon champion, who followed his German compatriot, Boris Becker, out of the tournament.

Stich was defeated by Sweden's Jonas Svensson, 6-7, 6-4, 6-0, losing his concentration completely during the the final set, almost as if he had closed his eyes and experimented with the Medvedev method. 'In the second set I had a break point to go up 5-3 and I didn't make it,' the German said. 'After that, I don't know.'

French interest was sustained by Cedric Pioline, who defeated Aaron Krickstein, a finalist last year, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. This leaves Lendl as the only American left in the draw. He defeated the older Sanchez brother, Emilio, 7-5, 6-3.

It was interesting to observe the once magical Miloslav Mecir seated alone in the corner of a stand on Court One in the typically intent pose of a coach, studying the progress of Marcos Ondruska. A 6-3, 6-2 defeat by Petr Korda indicated work to be done.

Chesnokov was eliminated, 6-2, 6-4, by Thomas Muster, the defending champion, who was runner-up to the Russian three years ago.

Results, Sporting Digest, page 37