(Rome) The Russian Daniil Medvedev, seeded N.3, qualified for the semi-finals of the Masters 1000 in Rome on Thursday by easily beating the German Yannick Hanfmann (101e world), from qualifying, 6-2, 6-2.
Medvedev will meet in the semi-final the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (N.5), finalist last year on the banks of the Tiber, or the Croatian Borna Coric (N.15), opposed in the evening in the last quarter-final.
The Russian, who had never won a match on Roman clay in his three previous appearances in Rome (2018, 2019 and 2021), confirms his new ease on ocher this year with this fourth victory, having dropped only one round on the way.
Hanfmann was playing his first quarter-final in the Masters 1000 at the age of 31. The one who is guaranteed to climb to the gates of the Top 60 in the next ATP ranking dreamed of a new feat against a member of the Top 10, after eliminating Andrey Rublev (N.6) in quarters and Taylor Fritz (N.9) in 2e round.
With a few perfectly executed drop shots, he tried at the start of the game to destabilize the Russian a little, very low behind his baseline.
But the German was too friable on his face-offs (three breaks per set) to hope to shake Medvedev who, diligently, kept up the pace to conclude in 1:20.
With this qualification in the last four, Medvedev equals his best performance on earth in a Masters 1000 (category just below the Grand Slams), with the semi-final disputed in Monte-Carlo in 2019.
