World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev outclasses Denis Shapovalov to enter the quarter finals of Cincinnati Masters

World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev on Thursday produced a great performance in the Western and Southern Open to defeat Denis Shapovalov of Canada in a thrilling hard-fought clash. The 26-year-old overwhelmed Canadian Shapovalov 7-5, 7-5 in one hour and 45 minutes clash to book a spot in the quarter-finals.

Medvedev shot his flat backhand with consistency, while he stood deep behind the baseline on return to dismiss Canadian`s lefty serve and piercing forehand. In a hard-fought first clash, Shapovalov constantly tried to pull Medvedev around the court, dancing around the ball to strike his forehand into the corners.

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However, the top seed has become famous for being able to dig deep and perform well under pressure. Medvedev`s watertight groundstrokes forced the Canadian to make one error to multiple on serve at 5-5. Medvedev then swept through his final service game to advance. World No. 1 will next play American Taylor Fritz after the Indian Wells champion edged Andrey Rublev in three sets.

“The match was pretty tight. I felt that it was a great level. I felt that he was missing a bit more than me but making more points, but that is how Shapo plays,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview. “My goal was to stay there at every point possible and try and put pressure on him when I had the chance. But there were many points where I was just running across the baseline, trying to get back his shots. Generally happy with the level,” he added.

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On the other hand, Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to the quarter-finals with a dominant 6-3, 6-3 win against Diego Schwartzman. Carlos Alcaraz continues his winning run at the Western and Southern Open, where his 7-6(4), 6-1 triumph against Marin Cilic on Thursday made him the event`s youngest quarter-finalist since Andy Murray, 16 years ago.