In the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships, top seed Daniil Medvedev secured a more comfortable victory on Thursday, overcoming Alejandro Davidovich Fokina with a score of 6-2, 6-3. Following a challenging second-round match, the Russian displayed a dominant performance, relying on 15 winners, three aces, and just six unforced errors to defeat Spain’s Davidovich Fokina in a brisk one hour and 17 minutes. Medvedev is set to face Ugo Humbert in the semi-finals, with the Frenchman having previously emerged victorious in their initial encounter during the 2015 Australian Open quarterfinals.
The pair have also met twice this season, each winning a set. Medvedev won their most recent encounter in a Dubai semifinal, with the Russians winning 6-2 and 6-4 in January to advance to the final for the first time.
Medvedev is on a roll, having won four of his past five ATP Tour matches, including the Qatar ExxonMobil Open title last week. The 27-year-old has reached a career-high No. 4 in the ATP Rankings and is positioned to secure his place at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.
In 2022, he was heartbroken after losing to Jannik Sinner in three sets at the event and said that he had “stopped dreaming.” But two years on, Medvedev is looking far more confident and determined to make a big impression this year.
Meanwhile, fellow Russian Andrey Rublev suffered a blow when his match with Sebastian Korda was interrupted, and the Brazilian player was taken to hospital with what looked like a shoulder injury. Korda was struggling and had a pain in his neck as he was escorted from the court by security.
Rublev was in a comfortable position to wrap up the match when he led 6-3 and 4-2, but he could not prevent his opponent from breaking back twice in the fifth set before claiming victory on a third and final match point. The third seed leads their ATP Head2Head series 6-2 and will look to continue his excellent form at the tournament when he takes on Carlos Alcaraz or Alexander Zverev in the semifinals.
The Russian duo both struggled on serve throughout the match, with 14 breaks matching the number of holds of serve in each set. However, Medvedev adapted quickly in the 34-degree heat and used his long leavers to retrieve Rublev’s thunderous groundstrokes, wearing down the World No. 8 in the heat and prevailing on his fifth match point to reach the semis in one hour and 17 minutes. Click here for complete match statistics and more. Our Match Charting Project comprises shot-by-shot records of all professional ATP Tour matches and is updated daily.