Daniil Medvedev earned his 41st hard-court win of the season on Monday when he recovered from a mid-match dip to down Ugo Humbert 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 at the China Open.

The second seed, who has recorded the most hard-court wins on Tour in 2023, struggled to find his best level throughout the first two sets, misfiring from the baseline to give Frenchman Humbert a foothold. Medvedev upped his intensity in the third set, though, not committing an unforced error to advance after two hours and seven minutes.

“I’m kind of happy that I managed to raise my level in important moments, except a game in the second set,” Medvedev said. “It’s great that I managed to still find in this tough match these moments of consistency, which is enough to win. That’s what you have to do.

“I am happy to be in the semi-finals. When you come to the tournament, you always want to go as far as possible. Happy to still be here tomorrow. The further we go, the tougher the matches, the tougher the opponents. That’s normal.”

Medvedev has now advanced to the semi-finals at 10 of the 18 tour-level events he has played this year. He will aim to reach his eighth title match when he takes on Alexander Zverev or Nicolas Jarry.

Earlier this year, Medvedev captured hard-court titles in Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai and Miami. The 27-year-old is chasing his second trophy on Chinese soil and his third in Asia overall at the Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Center, having triumphed in Tokyo in 2018 and at the Rolex Shanghai Masters in 2019. He is making his debut in Beijing, where he has also defeated Tommy Paul and Alex de Minaur.

After battling through a tough three-setter to open his China Open campaign, Jannik Sinner put his foot down to accelerate past Yoshihito Nishioka on Sunday and reach the quarter-finals in Beijing.

Sinner prevailed 6-2, 6-0 against the Japanese World No. 38 to reach his 12th tour-level quarter-final of the season. The Italian’s 67-minute triumph was in stark contrast to his first-round win against Daniel Evans, and he later acknowledged it had taken him time to settle after arriving in Beiing for his debut at the ATP 500 event.

“The first couple of days [in China] I was sick, and I tried somehow to get through the first round and I knew then I would have one day off,” said Sinner. “Every day is different. I feel physically much better, and I think when I have this shape of physicality, the way I play is a little bit easier.

“Today I played well. Maybe on serve I have to improve a little bit, the percentage, but I think all the rest was really good today.”

.@janniksin in full flight 🤩@ChinaOpen | #ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/wPZ3i5gXHZ

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 1, 2023

Sinner and Nishioka exchanged breaks of serve in the first two games of the match but the World No. 7 dominated from that moment on to improve his Lexus ATP Head2Head series lead against the Japanese to 2-0. Sinner won 11 straight games from 1-2 in the first set and powered 18 winners, including eight aces, in a display full of his trademark clean ballstriking.

“There were some key moments of this match that made my confidence grow,” said Sinner. “Playing this evening was a little bit like indoors. The ball was a little bit slower than during the day. When you play during the day it is quite tough, with the sun and everything. Today I think I handled the situation very well.”

Sinner’s 46th tour-level win of 2023 consolidated his position in fourth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. He is chasing a second appearance on home soil at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, where he competed as an alternate in 2021. Next up for the 22-year-old Beijing is a last-eight clash with third seed Holger Rune or Grigor Dimitrov.

Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev moved past Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler 7-5, 7-6(4) to reach the semi-finals at the China Open on Sunday.

The ATP Tour singles stars rallied from a break down in the first set before holding their nerves deep in the second set to advance after one hour and 40 minutes. They will next play Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski or Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski.

Khachanov and Rublev have tasted success together on Tour this year, capturing the ATP Masters 1000 crown in Madrid.

Pavic/Peers Advance In Astana
Mate Pavic and John Peers advanced to the Astana Open semi-finals on Sunday when they defeated Romain Arneodo and Sam Weissborn 7-6(5), 6-4 at the ATP 250 event.

Fourth seed Pavic and Peers, who are teaming for the first time this week, will meet Robin Haase and Botic van de Zandschulp in the last four after the Dutchmen beat Francisco Cabral and Rafael Matos 6-1, 6-4.

Carlos Alcaraz became the first player to earn 60 tour-level wins in 2023 on Sunday when he defeated Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-2, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals at the China Open in Beijing.

The top-seeded Spaniard overpowered Musetti with his explosive groundstrokes, striking 18 winners and breaking the Italian’s serve four times to improve to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against the 21-year-old.

“Today was a perfect match for me,” Alcaraz said. “You can improve and be better every day but I was proud of my tennis playing this level. I played high quality, great shots and a great return game. It was a great match and I enjoyed playing today. I enjoy China.”

With his 81-minute victory, Alcaraz improved to 16-1 at ATP 500 events, highlighted by title runs in Barcelona and at The Queen’s Club. The 20-year-old will look to earn his 17th win at this level when he takes on Casper Ruud in the last eight.

“A goal for me today was to start strong,” Alcaraz added. “Try to push him to the limit at the start. Trying to dominate the match, not make him feel comfortable. Move him and not let him hit his shots.”

Last Six Players To Earn 60+ Tour-Level Wins In A Season

Alcaraz began the Asian Swing behind World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, but could close that gap to 315 points by winning his first title since Wimbledon in Beijing. The Spaniard has earned a Tour-leading six trophies in 2023.

Seventh seed Ruud set a meeting with Alcaraz after edging past Tomas Martin Etcheverry 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(7) at the ATP 500. The Norwegian trailed 0/4 in the third-set tie-break before fighting back to prevail on his third match point after two hours and 59 minutes.

“It was not the best start. I was struggling a bit with the shade and the sun at the beginning,” Ruud said. “I got a good start in the second set. I broke him right away and that was what I needed to get the match going. Two really tight sets that went in my favour but I am really happy. It was a really tough battle.”

Ruud will need to perform strongly during the Asian Swing if he is to boost his Nitto ATP Finals qualification hopes. The 24-year-old, who reached the title match at the year-end event in 2022, is currently 10th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

Hamad Medjedovic captured the biggest win of his career Sunday at the Astana Open, where the #NextGenATP Serbian overcame fourth seed Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals.

A single break of World No. 29 Lehecka’s serve in each set was enough for Medjedovic to book his last-four spot at the ATP 250 in Kazakhstan. The 20-year-old, who also reached the semi-finals on clay in Gstaad in July, saved all four break points he faced en route to his 69-minute triumph.

“Honestly, it feels amazing,” said Medjedovic in his on-court interview. “It’s an amazing feeling to be in the semi-finals of Astana. It’s my second ATP 250 semi-final, but I think this one feels pretty special because I beat very good players and especially on indoor hard courts. I’m very happy with the win and let’s try to win some more matches.”

HUGE win! 🤌@MedjedovicHamad reaches his second ATP semi-final after getting the better of No. 4 seed lehecka 6-3, 6-4!@ktf_kz | #AstanaOpen pic.twitter.com/hhllFo11ay

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 1, 2023

Medjedovic has defeated countryman Laslo Djere, Alexander Shevchenko and Lehecka in Astana so far. His run has propelled him 16 spots to No. 104 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, and he is likely to crack the Top 100 for the first time if he can defeat fifth seed Sebastian Korda in Monday’s semi-finals.

The 20-year-old Medjedovic, who has enjoyed guidance and financial support from World No. 1 Novak Djokovic during his transition from juniors to the pros, is also on track to qualify for the season-ending Next Gen ATP Finals. He is eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Jeddah and will leapfrog Dominic Stricker and Luca Van Assche into sixth if he can reach the Astana final.

American Korda downed top seed Tallon Griekspoor 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to reach his 10th ATP Tour semi-final, and his fifth of 2023. The World No. 28 sent down 12 aces in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Griekspoor as he reached the last four on his event debut in Kazakhstan.

Like Medjedovic, Sebastian Ofner also reached his second ATP Tour semi-final on Sunday. The 27-year-old prevailed 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in an all-Austrian clash against Dominic Thiem. Ofner was on top for much of the match as he chased a first victory in four Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with Thiem, and he converted three of 15 break points he earned to seal a two-hour, 27-minute win.

With his hard-earned victory, Ofner is guaranteed to rise into the Top 50 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time on Monday. He is currently up nine spots to No. 49 in the Live Rankings.

After Jurij Rodionov also advanced to the quarter-finals, this week in Astana marked the first time three Austrians had reached the quarter-finals of the same ATP Tour event. Only Ofner remains in the draw in Kazakhstan, however, after Adrian Mannarino defeated Rodionov 6-1, 7-6(6) to advance to face Ofner on Monday.

Facing two straight match points in the first round of the Astana Open on Thursday, Jurij Rodionov wanted to hit aces against Gregoire Barrere.

The left-handed qualifier not only pulled it off at 4-5 in the third set, but did so going against his preferred serving patterns.

“At that point I felt he was stronger than me from the baseline, so I wanted to avoid the rallies as much as possible, and I was just going for it,” said the Austrian. “I went out wide on the deuce side and down the tee on the ad-side, which are my least favourite serves.

“Usually I use the lefty advantage, but I went against that and surprised him.”

Rodionov edged a third-set tie-break, then upset second seed Sebastian Baez in straight sets on Friday for a place in his second career ATP Tour quarter-final.

In the first one, on grass in Stuttgart in 2021, he also saved a match point against Alex de Minaur en route to the semi-finals.

“Maybe it’s a pattern,” Rodionov said.

Judging by his past performances, perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the 24-year-old is flourishing in Kazakhstan. His maiden title on the ATP Challenger Tour came as a qualifier in Almaty in 2018 and a month later, Rodionov found himself in the semi-finals of a Challenger in Astana.

In 2021, Rodionov landed in the final of yet another Challenger in Astana. He likes the people and atmosphere in Kazakhstan, while speaking the language puts him at ease.

“Maybe I got a bit lucky winning my first Challenger in Almaty,” he said. “And since then, I think you can say it’s my lucky charm.”

Rodionov knew that victory over Baez would lift him beyond the career-best No. 100 achieved in late August in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings and was pleased it didn’t hinder his performance.

The former junior World No. 7’s rise means he is getting ever closer to a direct berth into January’s Australian Open, where he has never competed in the main draw. Defeating 2020 Astana finalist and fellow lefty Adrian Mannarino on Sunday would boost Rodionov’s prospects even further. The Austrian notched his first Top 50 win against the Frenchman at a Challenger in Rennes in 2019.

“Honestly, I don’t really like playing against lefties because it’s very uncomfortable,” said Rodionov, despite winning nine of his last 10 matches versus left-handers.

Overall he calls this season his best so far, despite some “ups and downs”. Even when those ‘downs’ occur — Rodionov had lost six of seven matches entering Astana — his mantra is to “just hang in there.”

“Never give up, try to improve day by day and always try to be positive because no matter how bad things look, there is always going to be a way out,” he said. “Just try to do the best you can.”

An Austrian semi-finalist is guaranteed in Astana, where Dominic Thiem plays Sebastian Ofner in the other quarter-final in the bottom half of the draw. It marks the first time that three Austrians have reached the last eight of the same ATP Tour event.

Former World No. 3 Thiem holds a 3-0 record against Ofner, having beaten him most recently in three sets on clay at this year’s Millennium Estoril Open.

“I’m looking forward to it, because I think he is playing better right now,” Ofner said. “I’m also in good shape.”

Top-seed Tallon Griekspoor challenges fifth-seed Sebastian Korda, with fourth-seed Jiri Lehecka encountering 20-year-old wild card Hamad Medjedovic at Kazakhstan’s National Tennis Center. Both are first-time meetings.

Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek made a confident start to their first tournament together on Chinese soil with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph against Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz at the China Open.

The top seeds Dodig and Krajicek converted four of five break points they earned in Saturday’s first-round clash to book a quarter-final spot in Beijing. The Croatian-American pair is chasing its fifth tour-level crown of the year in the Chinese capital, and its first on outdoor hard courts.

The leading team in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings as they chase a second consecutive appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, Dodig and Krajicek will take on Marcelo Melo and Alexander Zverev in the last eight. Dodig is a defending champion in Beijing, where he lifted the trophy at the previous edition of the ATP 500 event in 2019 alongside Filip Polasek.

Fourth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin also reached the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-2 triumph against Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Nicolas Jarry. Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski beat Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 7-6(5), 6-4, and the experienced duo of Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos overcame singles stars Alex de Minaur and Jannik Sinner 7-6(2), 6-3.

Cabral/Matos Spring Upset In Astana
Francisco Cabral and Rafael Matos stunned top seeds Jamie Murray and Michael Venus 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday at the Astana Open, where the Portuguese-Brazilian team converted four of its six break points to charge to a 68-minute first-round win.

There were no such problems for second seeds Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow, who beat Tallon Griekspoor and Bart Stevens 6-4, 7-5. Meanwhile Ariel Behar and Adam Pavlasek became the first team to reach the semi-finals when they defeated Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-3, 4-6, 10-5.

Ugo Humbert earned his first Top 10 win in more than a year with a dramatic victory against Andrey Rublev on Saturday night in Beijing. In the second round of the China Open, the Frenchman pulled out a 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(3) victory against the fifth seed, improving his career record to 8-8 against Top 10 opponents.

In an eventful match that saw 10 breaks of serve evenly split, Humbert denied Rublev’s attempt to serve out a win at 5-3 in the final set and leaned on his rock-solid baseline game to close out the victory in a one-sided tie-break.

“I was really focussed from the beginning of the second set and the level was high,” Humbert said after two hours, 48 minutes on court. “It’s not easy against him because he plays very fast. I’m very proud that I did it.”

Humbert improved to 8-8 against the Top 10 and 1-3 this season, with his most recent such victory coming against Casper Ruud last year at Wimbledon. He will have a chance for another Top 10 win in the quarter-finals when he takes on World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev, against whom he holds a 2-0 Lexus ATP Head2Head edge.

The 25-year-old Humbert reached a career-high of World No. 25 in 2021, but was outside the Top 100 for much of the 2022 season and as recently as this January. His quarter-final run in Beijing has lifted him two places to No. 34 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

“I was outside the Top 100 last year. I feel I played very well the last few weeks in Davis Cup, here,” he assessed. “I’m very happy to win against [Rublev].”

Rublev was seeking his 10th quarter-final of the season. Despite the defeat, he remains comfortably inside the top eight places in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. If Alexander Zverev wins the Beijing title, however, the Geman will replace Rublev in fifth place.

For the second straight match at the Astana Open, Dominic Thiem earned a hard-fought victory by winning a closing tie-break. After taking a second-set tie-break against Juan Pablo Varillias in the first round, the Austrian edged Marcos Giron 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(2) on Saturday at the ATP 250.

The result saw Thiem through to his 76th tour-level quarter-final, his fourth of 2023 (Estoril, Munich, Kitzbühel) and his first on hard courts since reaching the 2022 Antwerp semis (l. To Korda).

“It was a very close match again. It’s obvious that here with these conditions there are many close matches, so many tie-breaks as well,” he said, later explaining how the fast indoor conditions favour the server. “I was expecting a really tough one. I was starting very well, very aggressive, so that was good. Second set he started to play much better and the third set was a very close battle — I saved some break points, he did [also].

“I played a very good tie-break. This was the best part of the match.”

Both men broke serve twice in the match, with Thiem creating nine break chances to Giron’s seven. Giron failed to serve out the second set at 5-3 but responded by breaking for the second time to seal the set.

Austria’s Thiem saved three break points in the final set, including two from 15/40 at 3-4. On the first, he wrong-footed Giron with a deep forehand volley after the American hit a booming forehand at his approaching opponent. Thiem varied his game to great effect down the stretch, mixing in delicate shots at opportune moments to complement his baseline power.

From 2/2 in the decisive tie-break, the Austrian won the final five points of the match with rock-solid play, while Giron’s level dipped. Thiem will next face countryman Sebastian Ofner, who upset third seed Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-2 to close Saturday’s play in Astana. Ofner saved both break points he faced against the Kazakh home favourite.

Earlier on Saturday, top seed Tallon Griekspoor earned a 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-1 win against Japan’s Sho Shimabukuro. The Dutchman saved the only two break points he faced in the match, firing 16 aces and wining 86 per cent of his first serve points on a stellar serving day.

Griekspoor dominated the final set by claiming the only three breaks of the match and will next meet American Sebastian Korda, who followed up a three-set opening win against Alexei Popyrin with a 6-4, 7-6(4) win against Nuno Borges on Saturday. Both players created three break chances in the match, with Korda converting two to his opponent’s one.