Rotterdam Open: Medvedev knocks out defending champion Auger-Aliassime to reach semi-final
Daniil Medvedev beat Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 6-4 on Friday and will face Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the next round
Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No 6 seed, advanced to the semi-finals of the Rotterdam Open by winning against Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, the No 3 seed and defending champion, 6-2, 6-4 at the Rotterdam Ahoy on Friday.
Medvedev, ranked No 11, will face Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov next.
Medvedev continued his perfect record against the Canadian – extending it to five wins out of five. It is the first time they have played each other since the 2022 Australian Open, when Medvedev came back from two sets down to secure victory.
It makes Medvedev the third player with five tour-level wins against Auger-Aliassime (along with Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev).
And he will go into the semi-finals with some confidence now, with 14 of his 15 singles titles thus far coming on hard court.
Last year’s champion Auger-Aliassime was seeking his 23rd tour-level singles final, and hoping for some of the good fortune that helped him break an unwanted record here last year – he finally won a singles title after losing his previous eight finals.
The Russian beat Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (4-6, 6-2, 6-2) and Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp (6-2, 6-2) ahead of his victory.
Earlier in the tournament, Auger-Aliassime, ranked No 8, won against Italian Lorenzo Sonego (6-2, 6-3) and French qualifier Gregoire Barrere (6-4, 6-3).
Rotterdam ATP250, other last eight results (Rotterdam Ahoy, hard, EUR 2.074.505, most recent results first):
- Gijs Brouwer vs. Tallon Griekspoor
- Jannik Sinner vs. Stan Wawrinka
- Grigor Dimitrov beat Alex De Minaur: 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6)