By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday June 16, 2022
He won’t be permitted to play at Wimbledon this year due to the Championships' ban on Russian and Belarussian players. Nevertheless, Daniil Medvedev is starting to look like a player that could win the title at SW19 one day.
On Thursday in Halle Medvedev reached the quarterfinals with a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory over Ilya Ivashka. The World No.1 improves to 12-2 on grass since the start of 2021 (30-15 lifetime) after a performance that saw him save all six break points he faced.
Medvedev improves to 3-1 over Ivashka – he lost the pair’s first meeting in 2018.
"I’ve known him since I was very young, we actually played in Futures, Challengers, and on the ATP Tour. He beat me once in Davis Cup, which is a really important tournament. So he knows how to play tennis, he knows how to play well on grass, so I’m really happy that two times in a row I managed to pass a tough test,” Medvedev said of Ivashka, whom he has defeated twice in two weeks.
It was by no means a simple victory for the 26-year-old.
Medvedev fought off three set points at 4-5 in the opening set, then rallied to take it in a tiebreak. In the second set Medvedev broke for 3-1 then saved three break points to hold for 5-2. He closed out the contest with a love hold to improve to 24-8 on the season.
Medvedev will face Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut on the last eight on Friday.
In other action on Thursday local favorite Oscar Otte defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili, 4-6, 6-0, 7-6(3) to reach his first 500 level quarterfinal, while No.8-seeded Karen Khachanov defeated Laslo Djere 7-6(4), 6-4.
The quarterfinals shape up as follows in Halle: