Daniil Medvedev on Monday continued his Internazionali BNL d’Italia title defense with a hard-fought 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 7-5 win over qualifier Hamad Medjedovic as the men’s tournament was left wide open by big-name exits, the latest being fourth seed Andrey Rublev.
The second seed has a great opportunity to win his first tournament of the year, but is likely to be drained by a match that lasted 2 hours, 50 minutes and suggested that 20-year-old Medjedovic is a far superior player than his world ranking of 121.
“I’m not really pleased. I felt like I started the match well, and then in a way it was only going downhill,” Medvedev said. “I’m happy that by not playing my best I could win and tomorrow I’m going to try to find my best tennis.”
Photo: AP
Rome is missing the world’s top three men following Novak Djokovic’s third-round elimination on Saturday, with Italian world No. 2 Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz withdrawing ahead of the event. Rublev, fresh from claiming the Madrid title, suffered a shock third-round defeat by French qualifier Alexandre Muller, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Sixth seed and reigning Monte Carlo champion Stefanos Tsitsipas is still in the fray after beating Cameron Norrie in straight sets 6-2, 7-6 (7/1), but is concerned at the impact of a punishing schedule on the top players.
“The extension of the days in the Masters 1000s I think plays a massive role and contributes a lot to the fact that these players are getting injured,” Tsitsipas said.
In the women’s singles, Elina Svitolina again refused to shake hands with Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka after losing their first meeting since their row at last year’s French Open.
Belarusian second seed Sabalenka came back from a set down to win 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (9/7) to beat Ukrainian Svitolina, who following their quarter-final at Roland Garros last year accused Sabalenka of inflaming tensions surrounding the Russia-Ukraine war by insisting on a handshake that was not going to come.
Ukrainian players have refused to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian rivals in protest at the ongoing war and Svitolina again walked straight to her chair after the match.
Sabalenka will face world No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko in the quarter-finals after squeezing past two-time Rome winner Svitolina in a brilliant match for those who stayed late in the center court stands.
The 26-year-old, who has never won in Rome, but is a two-time champion on the Madrid clay, has a chance to match her 2022 run to the last four in front of a crowd who were on her side and roared with delight after she won a thrilling tiebreak at the second time of asking.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek has yet to drop a set after beating Angelique Kerber 7-5, 6-3 and is favorite for a third Rome crown before she begins her French Open title defense later this month.
Swiatek is next to face Madison Keys, whose 6-2, 6-1 win over Sorana Cirstea was suspended for half an hour by a court invasion from climate activists.
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Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
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