Shanghai, Oct 14 (IANS) Continuing his superb run in China, Daniil Medvedev reached the quarterfinals at the Shanghai Masters for the fourth time in his last five appearances on Wednesday, when he overcame long-time rival Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Medvedev, who lifted the trophy at the ATP Masters 1000 event in 2019, took another step towards title triumph in Shanghai this week with a 6-4, 7-5 victory against Tsitsipas, improving to 11-5 in the pair’s Lexus ATP head-to-head series.
“I love Shanghai as a city,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview. “It is one of my favourite stops on Tour, so I’m trying to stay as long as possible. I am playing great. Today was a different game style than on the Grandstand. But served great, zero break points to face, so I am very happy about it.”
Medvedev was impressive on serve, not facing a break point to keep the Greek at bay. The No. 6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings also successfully targeted Tsitsipas’ backhand and was the more consistent from the baseline, committing eight fewer unforced errors (10-18).
With his 84-minute win, Medvedev also became just the sixth man to reach the quarter-finals in Shanghai on at least four occasions. Chasing his fourth title of the year and first at Masters 1000 level since 2023, Medvedev will next meet Tommy Paul.
Medvedev has yet to drop a set in Shanghai and is boosting his ATP Finals qualification chances with his run. The 30-year-old is eighth in the ATP Live Race To Turin and in a good position to compete at the prestigious year-end event for the seventh time.
Paul defeated Carlos Alcaraz conqueror Zizou Bergs 7-6(5), 6-4 to complete the set of reaching the quarter-finals at all six ATP Masters 1000 hard-court events. The American is 14th in the Live Race To Turin but can massively increase his qualification hopes with a maiden Masters 1000 title this week.
–IANS
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