Astana Open: Medvedev advances to quarterfinal with win over Ruusuvuori

World No 4 Daniil Medvedev defeated bighitting Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland 63 62 to reach the quarterfinals at Astana Open moving closer to a blockbuster semifinal showdown with Novak Djokovic here on ThursdayThe second seed Medvedev who denied Djokovics quest for a calendaryear Grand Slam in the 2021 US Open final has not lost more than three games in a set through two matches in KazakhstanIm 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 Im sure hes going to climb the rankings throughout his career Medvedev saidSo Im happy that today I managed to win pretty confidently and it was at a great level he addedEarlier in the day Djokovic who holds the record for most weeks spent as World No 1 373 enjoyed a similarly convincing 63 61 win over Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp to also advance to the quarterfinals in the bottom half of the drawMedvedev arrived in Astana on a twomatch losing streak following a fourthround defeat at the US Open to Nick Kyrgios and an openinground upset in Metz at the hands of threetime major winner Stan Wawrinka But he needed just two hours and 35 minutes to win two matches this week and make his ninth quarterfinal of 2022The 26yearold negated Ruusuvuoris power with nearly flawless baseline play making few unforced errors on the indoor hard court He converted four of his nine break points to triumph after one hour and 15 minutesMedvedev was in full control for a large majority of the match His only slip came at 63 20 when he relinquished his serve by missing a forehand passing shot wide But Medvedev played dogged defence at 32 to recover his advantage Ruusuvuori ended a long rally with a backhand into the net and he was unable to recover againThe former World No 1 will next play Roberto Bautista Agut who has proven a tough opponent for him in the past The Spaniard leads their ATP Head to Head series 41 with three of his wins coming in straight sets Medvedevs only victory came earlier this year in Halle on grass This will be the fifth ATP Tour quarterfinal played between the pairTo be honest hes just a great player always close to Top 10 I feel like maybe hes a little bit more shaky I dont know in the Grand Slam later stages because otherwise I dont see why he is not in the Top 5 from time to time Medvedev saidIm happy that I managed to beat him once this year This can give me a little bit of feedback on what I have to do to beat him and thats what Im going to try to do tomorrow he addedThe 2020 ATP Finals champion Medvedev is trying to qualify for the season finale for the fourth consecutive season He is fifth in the ATP Live Race To Turin with Rafael Nadal Carlos Alcaraz Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas already qualifiedIn other action Polands Hubert Hurkacz eliminated home favourite Alexander Bublik 64 64 in 80 minutes It was an important win for the 2021 Nitto ATP Finals qualifier who is currently eighth in the ATP Live Race To Turin If he reaches the final in Astana he will move past Felix AugerAliassime into seventhMedvedev is now 141 on hard courts this season against players outside the Top 50 in the ATP Rankings His only loss came to Wawrinka a former World No 3 in MetzThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever