Daniil Medvedev won the knockout round clash in Rome over Alexander Zverev, while Andrey Rublev and Jannik Sinner meanwhile failed to make it past that stage.
The rain spoiled the end of the program on Monday, so much so that Alexander Zverev had to finish his round of 16 and play his eighth on the same day on Tuesday. Opposed to Daniil Medvedev at 7:45 p.m. after beating JJ Wolf earlier in the afternoon, the German player lost to the Russian 6-2, 7-6. A month after their Round of 16 match in Monte Carlo, which ended with Medvedev’s third-set tie-break victory and criticism via press conference, the former world No. by winning more easily this time, in 1h56 of play.
Medvedev notably signed an almost perfect first set, with breaks at 0-0 and 4-2 and three shutouts on his serve, before having to defend his first break point when he served to win the first set. He succeeded and concluded on his second opportunity. Zverev resisted better in the second set, and managed to take the Russian’s serve just after being broken (4-4). The German player then got a set point at 5-4 on Medvedev’s serve, but the former world No. 1 saved it and ended up winning the tiebreak (7-3).
La sensation Hanfmann !
He will face in the quarter-finals Thursday another German player, Yannick Hanfmann (101st) who, after Taylor Fritz, offered the scalp of Andrey Rublev. He won 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 in 2:34 against the Russian, who nevertheless served 18 aces. Hanfmann generally dominated the first set by getting three break points, before finally winning it in the decisive game (7-5). But he lost his second-set entry serve and never managed to get behind, allowing Rublev to tie one set all. The Russian broke again at the start of the third set, but this time he did not hold, being unbroken in the process then losing his serve again at 3-2, then the match a little later even he had a 4-5 ball. Before going to compete in the qualifications for Roland-Garros, the 31-year-old player will therefore offer himself a quarter-final in the Masters 1000!
The other surprise of the evening came from the elimination of Jannik Sinner (8th) by Francisco Cerundolo (31st). The Argentinian won 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 in 2:26 against the best Italian player. At the end of a first set marked by four breaks, Sinner had the last word in the decisive game (7-3), but the 21-year-old player, back after an illness which forced him to give up Barcelona and Madrid , broke down physically in the last two sets, notably losing his service five times. It is therefore Cerudolo who will challenge Casper Ruud for a place in the last four.
