World number three Daniil Medvedev progressed to the quarter-finals of the China Open with a hard-fought win over Australia’s Alex de Minaur in Beijing on Saturday.
The Russian navigated an awkward first set before triumphing 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 and will face Ugo Humbert of France in the next round.
Medvedev led 5-2 in the first set but errors crept in and he needed a tie-break to see off a stirring comeback from the 12th-ranked de Minaur.w
He found his range in the second set, securing an early break before taking his second match point with a fierce volley. Medvedev told AFP that issues with the match balls contributed to his up-and-down performance. “As soon as you play some shots with them, they go very big, much (fluffier)... it becomes like a grapefruit,” the 27-year-old said. “We’re basically playing 30-shot rallies because it’s almost impossible to hit a winner,” he said, adding that the problem made injuries more likely.
“With these balls, you have to be 100 percent on every point, until the last point of the match. I managed to do it well so this, I’m happy about.”
Humbert scored a surprise 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) victory over Medvedev’s compatriot and world number six Andrey Rublev. Earlier, Nicolas Jarry battled to a marathon victory to set up a potential quarter-final with Alexander Zverev, who plays later on Saturday.The unseeded Chilean triumphed 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 over Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi in a three-hour match.
Tournament favourite and world number two Carlos Alcaraz will play Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti in round two after dispatching qualifier Yannick Hanfmann on Friday.