World No 4 Daniil Medvedev defeated big-hitting Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland 6-3, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals at Astana Open, moving closer to a blockbuster semifinal showdown with Novak Djokovic, here on Thursday.
The second seed Medvedev, who denied Djokovic’s quest for a calendar-year Grand Slam in the 2021 US Open final, has not lost more than three games in a set through two matches in Kazakhstan.
“I’m trying to be consistent. That was a little bit of a goal this week. But the further you go, the more just [being] consistent is not going to be enough. Emil is a really tough player, he can bring a lot of tough matches to top opponents from what I feel like. I’m sure he’s going to climb the rankings throughout his career,” Medvedev said.
“So I’m happy that today I managed to win pretty confidently and it was at a great level,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Djokovic, who holds the record for most weeks spent as World No. 1 (373), enjoyed a similarly convincing 6-3, 6-1 win over Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp to also advance to the quarter-finals in the bottom half of the draw.
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