Fifth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev marched into the Rolex Shanghai Masters quarterfinals with a 6-4, 7-5 win Wednesday against Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.
Medvedev struck eight aces, won 84.6% of the points on his first serve (33 of 39) and never faced a break point in the 85-minute victory. He finished with 25 winners and just 10 unforced errors as he moved closer to lifting the ATP Masters 1000 trophy for the second time (2019).
“I love Shanghai as a city,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview. “It is one of my favorite stops on Tour, so 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, who improved to 11-5 against longtime rival Tsitsipas, will face 15th-seeded Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals.
Paul posted a 7-6 (5), 6-4 win against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs. The American saved eight of nine break points — five of them in the 11th game take a 6-5 lead in the opening set. Paul jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second set and held on to advance.
Bergs, who knocked out second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in the third round, finished with more winners (17-14) but also more unforced errors (29-23).
No. 12 seed Rafael Jodar of Spain and No. 20 Casper Ruud of Norway will meet in another quarterfinal following fourth-round wins on Wednesday.
The 20-year-old Jodar rallied for a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2 victory against Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands in two hours, 30 minutes. It was the third consecutive match in which Jodar battled back from a set down.
“I think I was doing the right things, but he played important points in the tie-break better than me,” Jodar said following his win. “That’s why he won the first set. I had just two break points. In the second set, I started up a break that helped me get (further) into the set in a better shape. Very happy with how the match went today.”
Jodar finished with 15 more winners (34-19) and 10 fewer unforced errors (47-37) than van de Zandschulp.
Ruud was leading No. 4 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 5-2 in the opening set when the Canadian was forced to retire because of a knee injury.
–Field Level Media
