Sinner to face Medvedev in Shanghai Masters quarter-finals

SHANGHAI: World number one Jannik Sinner will face Daniil Medvedev in the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals after both had straight-set victories on Wednesday. Sinner put some old demons to rest in overcoming American Ben Shelton 6-4, 7-6 (7/1), while Medvedev took out Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.

Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic also progressed to the next round after comfortable wins. Shelton, ranked 16, knocked Sinner out at the same stage last year but the Italian looked confident from the start and won in 88 minutes. The US Open champion pulled ahead in the ninth game of the first set, breaking when Shelton hit long, then dominated the second set tiebreak.

“It was very tough, you don’t have so much control when you play against him... I just tried to stay strong mentally,” said Sinner. World number five Medvedev and Tsitsipas were meeting for the 14th time.

The Greek started the second set strongly, breaking in the first game, but Medvedev broke in the fourth and eighth to claim victory. Medvedev and Sinner have already met four times in the final stages of tournaments this year.

Sinner beat Medvedev in the semi-finals in Miami, the quarter-finals of the US Open and in the Australian Open final, but the Russian ended the Italian’s hopes in the last eight at Wimbledon in an epic five-set battle.

“I’m gonna bring the fight,” Medvedev said. “I could have done much better in the US Open... I didn’t explore enough my potential during this match. So I’m going to try to explore this potential tomorrow,” he said.

Sinner said: “We know each other quite well now, we know exactly what to expect, more or less.” “Of course, it’s going to be a very tough match, physical match, mental match, and also tactical, so let’s see what’s coming.”

World number two Alcaraz, who beat Sinner in the China Open final a week ago, downed veteran Gael Monfils 6-4, 7-5 for a 12th straight victory. The 38-year-old Frenchman upset Alcaraz at their last meeting in Cincinnati in August and the Spaniard admitted that “was on his mind”.

“I’m just really, really happy I won the match, and that I stayed calm through the whole match,” the 21-year-old said. Alcaraz’s quarter-final opponent is 23-year-old Tomas Machac, who beat 13th-ranked Tommy Paul 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

“He has really great tennis. He’s so, so fast as well, so I have to be focused on that,” Alcaraz said of the Czech. Machac’s teenage compatriot Jakub Mensik burnished his record against top 10 players, overpowering Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 just days after sending world number six Andrey Rublev home.

Mensik’s next challenge is Djokovic after the Serb finished off Russian Roman Safiullin 6-3, 6-2 in 73 minutes. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love playing tennis in China,” the four-time Shanghai champion said. “I feel very comfortable here, because of the support I have,” he said.