Daniil Medvedev is through to his tenth quarter-final of the season at the ATP 500 event in Beijing. The 2023 runner-up defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 6-3 in an hour and 24 minutes for a place in the last eight.
It was a top-20 duel, and the Russian outplayed the Spaniard on the return to emerge at the top and remain on the title course. Daniil is trying to lift his first ATP title since May 2023, having missed a trophy in the previous 49 ATP events!
Medvedev claimed 14 points more. He got broken three times from as many chances offered to his rival but responded nicely on the return. Alejandro dropped 55% of the points in his games and suffered six breaks from nine chances provided to his opponent.
Daniil landed ten winners and 17 unforced errors. On the other hand, Davidovich Fokina sprayed 38 mistakes, missing equally from both wings and losing ground from the baseline.
The Spaniard wasted game points in the second game of the encounter and lost serve after the rival's winner at the net. Medvedev suffered a break in the third game, bringing his rival to the positive side.
The Russian placed a running forehand crosscourt winner in the fourth game, clinching another break and moving 3-1 in front. Both players served well by the end of the set. Daniil fired an unreturned serve at 5-3 to wrap up the first part of the duel in 42 minutes.
Alejandro missed a forehand in the first game of the second set and experienced a break at love. He saved a break point at 0-2 and pulled the break back in the next one with a forced error to return to the positive side.
Instead of building on that, the Spaniard sprayed a forehand error in the fifth game and suffered another break. He hit better in the next one, pulling the break back at love and locking the result at 3-3.
The seventh game saw the fourth straight break. Daniil welcomed the rival's double fault and secured another advantage. He cemented it with a service winner in the next one for a 5-3 lead.
The Russian provided his third break in a row in game nine, moving over the top and reaching the quarter-final.
