Third seed Medvedev upended by Zhang in Halle

Chinese Zhizhen Zhang moved into the quarter-finals of the Halle Open by edging out Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No 3 seed, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (5) at the Owl Arena/Gerry-Weber-Stadion on Wednesday afternoon.

The win was Zhang’s second top five scalp of his career, after he defeated Casper Ruud at the 2023 US Open. His victory against Medvedev came in dramatic fashion, with the Russian just two points from victory at 5-3 in the final set tie-break. Zhang won four points in a row from that point, closing out the breaker 7-5 to claim the match.

It was a welcome reversal for the Chinese player, who had lost a third-set tie-break this time last week in Stuttgart.

“A really tough match. Last time I lost a third-set tie-break,” Zhang reflected after the match. “And today again, a third-set tie-break. I was thinking, ‘Okay, it’s time. The perfect moment to get revenge’. I’m super happy that today I handled it to the end.”

Zhang, ranked No 42, will play American Christopher Eubanks next.

Ahead of his victory, the Chinese edged out Austrian Sebastian Ofner (7-6 (8), 6-7 (3), 6-4).

Medvedev, ranked No 5, defeated Portuguese Nuno Borges (7-6 (4), 6-4) in the previous round of the Halle tournament.

Halle ATP 500, other second-round results (Owl Arena/Gerry-Weber-Stadion, grass, EUR 2.255.655, most recent results first):

• Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Matteo Berrettini vs. Marcos Giron
• Jannik Sinner vs. Fabian Marozsan
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. James Duckworth
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Alexander Zverev
• Christopher Eubanks beat Alexander Bublik (7): 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3
• Arthur Fils beat Dominik Koepfer (WC): 6-3, 6-4