Daniil Medvedev moves to the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open

Daniil Medvedev moves to the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open.

Before defending his U.S. Open championship on Friday, world number one, Daniil Medvedev defeated Denis Shapovalov 7-5, 7-5, to go to the Cincinnati Open quarterfinals on Thursday.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Borna Coric joined the Russian top seed in the round of eight.

In contrast, his countryman Andrey Rublev, the sixth seed, was eliminated by Taylor Fritz.

Last week, Medvedev abruptly exited the Canadian Masters. Still, he overcame some early setbacks in a difficult match against Shapovalov to win both sets and secure a date with American Fritz.

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To defeat Rublev 6-7(4) 6-2 7-5 on Center Court, Fritz had to rally from a set down.

However, he found his stride in the second set and hammered 12 winners past the Russian to seal his ranking ascension.

The Indian Wells winner, on the verge of breaking into the top 10, said, “Obviously, I want to go even farther, semis, finals, win the championship but to have another Masters quarterfinal on the record for the year helps a lot.”

Following up on his incredible win against Rafa Nadal late on Wednesday, Croatian player Marin Coric defeated Roberto Bautista Agut.

Coric, a former world number 12 who had shoulder surgery, is still making his recovery.

Still, his decisive 6-2 6-3 win at the U.S. Open underlined that no one should underestimate him.