Daniil Medvedev defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters. The Russian fifth seed secured a 6-4, 7-5 victory without facing a single break point against the Greek player.
"I felt like I was playing very well today," Medvedev said after the match.
The 30-year-old acknowledged that the second set presented a different challenge. "Second set different story. Very tight one. I’m happy that I managed to get some good returns, get some good rhythm," he said. Medvedev broke his opponent’s serve to take a 6-5 lead in the second set, then closed out the match in one hour and 24 minutes.
This encounter marked the 16th meeting between the two players on the Tour. Sixth-ranked Medvedev improved his head-to-head record against Tsitsipas to 11 wins.
Medvedev now advances to set up a meeting with either Tommy Paul or Zizou Bergs in the next round.
In earlier action, rising Spanish star Rafael Jodar defeated Botic van de Zandschulp 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2 to secure his own place in the quarter-finals. Jodar received a code violation in the second set for swearing at a ball boy in Spanish while asking for a towel.
Jodar will face Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals. The Norwegian player advanced when fourth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime retired injured while trailing 2-5 in the first set.
Ruud, ranked 24th in the world, noted that his opponent began experiencing trouble during the fourth game of the opening set.
"It seemed to me that he maybe twisted his knee... It looked like he kind of stumbled a bit with a wrong step," Ruud told reporters. "From that moment it seemed like he was in a lot of pain."
Auger-Aliassime required a medical timeout following the fifth game. He returned to the court for the next game with white strapping applied around his left knee, starting the game down 1-4.
