Daniil Medvedev fought off a challenge from Australian Alex de Minaur to win 7-6 (3), 6-3 and advance to the quarterfinals of the China Open on Saturday in Beijing.
Medvedev was up 5-2 in the first set, but de Minaur rallied to win four straight games to force a tiebreaker, which went to the second-seeded Russian. With the victory, Medvedev won his 40th hard-court match of the season, which leads the tour.
When Medvedev meets Ugo Humbert of France in the quarterfinals, it will be Medvedev’s 13th quarters match in 18 tournaments this year.
Humbert upset another Russian, fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Also advancing Saturday was Nicolas Jarry of Chile, who defeated Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-3. Playing later was No. 8 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain.
Astana Open
Unseeded Dominic Thiem needed three before advancing to his first hard-court semifinal since 2022 with a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2) victory over Marcos Giron in Kazakhstan.
Thiem was No. 3 in the world in March 2020, but he has struggled to return to the form after a wrist injury in mid-2021. But now, he’ll compete in his 76th tour quarterfinal, meeting fellow Austrian Sebastian Ofner.
Ofner upset home-country favorite and third seed Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-2 to advance.
In other action, top seed Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands was pushed by Japan’s Sho Shimabukuro before winning 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-1. Griekspoor had 16 aces and won 86 percent (50 of 58) of the points on his first serve.
Next up for him is Sebastian Korda, who defeated Nuno Borges of Portugal 6-4, 7-6 (4) to advance.
–Field Level Media
