Medvedev bagels Paul en route to third straight quarter-final at Indian Wells

Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No 5 seed, advanced to the last eight of the Indian Wells Masters by winning against American Tommy Paul, the No 10 seed, 6-4, 6-0 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Tuesday.

Medvedev’s effort against Paul was a roller-coaster affair that ended in just 75 minutes.

The Russian was quick off the blocks as he secured a double break to go 4-0 up in the first set but the American fought back to claim the following four games. Medvedev, however, shifted gears henceforth and didn’t lose a game to cross the finish line with ease and move into the quarter-finals at Indian Wells for third year in a row.

The outcome meant Medvedev extended his head-to-head lead over Paul to 4-1.

“We actually have up and down matches so far… especially the last three,” the Russian said after the match. “The first one was really close. Then he beat me easy. Now I managed to beat him a bit easier. I’m happy with my game. It’s not easy to play here.. Of course we still win more serves than we lose.. But breaks of serves don’t mean much here. Even when he came back in the first I was like, ‘try pushing, try going further’. And I managed to raise my level during the match. I’m pretty happy about it.”

Medvedev, ranked No 6, will play Frenchman Arthur Fils, the No 20 seed, next.

In the previous rounds of the Indian Wells Tennis Masters, the Russian beat Chinese Yunchaokete Bu (6-2, 6-2) and American Alex Michelsen, the No 31 seed (2-0 ret.).

Paul, ranked No 11, won against wildcard Tristan Boyer (6-3, 6-1) and Cameron Norrie (6-3, 7-5) earlier in the tournament.

Indian Wells Masters 1000, other last 16 results (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 13.042.410, most recent results first):

• Grigor Dimitrov vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Jack Draper vs. Taylor Fritz
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Alex De Minaur
• Brandon Nakashima vs. Ben Shelton
• Arthur Fils beat Marcos Giron: 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
• Holger Rune (12) beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (8): 6-4, 6-4
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Yosuke Watanuki (Q): 7-6 (4), 6-1

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