David Medvedev cruised past Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3 6-3 to secure his spot in a third straight quarter final at the China Open in Beijing. Medvedev, who reached the final in Beijing in 2023, has improved his seasonal record win-loss record to 29-19. He is currently ranked world number 18, his lowest ranking since January 2019.
Medvedev converted his second break point at deuce in the second game to open up a 2-0 lead. Davidovich Fokina broke straight back at deuce in the third game. Medvedev earned his second break in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. He held his next service games and served out the opening set with a hold at love.
Medvedev went up a break twice in the second set, but Davidovich Fokina pulled back on serve both times to draw level to 3-3. Medvedev won the next three games with two breaks to seal the second set 6-3.
Medvedev split with his historic coach Gilles Cervara after the US Open and has been working with Thomas Johansson and Rohan Goetzke.
“Maybe the feeling of the game, the general awareness which I have been lacking lately that’s also why I’m happy today. To win many return games, you need to react fast on the return, run faster on the next shot. Everything needs to be better, but it’s not too bad”, said Medvedev.
Medvedev has reached his 10th ATP Tour quarter final of the season. The Russian player set up a quarter final clash against Alexander Zverev, who had to dig deep to overcome Frenchman Corentin Moutet 7-5 3-6 6-3.
Zverev saved three break point in the fourth game before breaking serve in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Moutet broke back in the 10th game to draw level to 5-5. Zverev earned his second break in the 11th game and sealed his first set point in the 12th game after saving three set points.
Moutet broke serve in the sixth game of the second set to take a 4-2 lead and served out on his third set point after saving a break point in the ninth game.
Moutet earned an early break in the first game of the third set. Zverev broke straight back in the second game to draw level to 1-1. Zverev converted his third break point in the sixth game and sealed the win on his first match point in the ninth game.
“It was a great match. I’m looking forward to the quarter-finals and playing my good friend Daniil”, said Zverev.
