Staff Reporter.
(AFP) – Daniil Medvedev kept Denis Shapovalov winless against world No 1 players with a 7-5, 7-5 defeat on Thursday at the ATP Cincinnati Masters.
The Canadian, who lost in an hour and three-quarters, has dropped all eight career matches he has played against the elite echelon.
Medvedev moved into a quarterfinal against 11th seed Taylor Fritz after the American stopped No 6 seed Andrey Rublev.
“It was a fight today, definitely not easy,” said Medvedev, who clinched the top US Open seeding when Rafael Nadal lost here in the second round.
“The match was pretty tight, played at a great level.
“My goal was to stay in every point possible and try to put pressure on him if I had the chance.”
“I’m happy with the level, this match could have gone either way.”
Medvedev secured late breaks in both sets as he matched his volatile Canadian opponent.
Medvedev and Fritz have never played.
“We trained together at the start of the season before the ATP Cup,” Medvedev said. “He won Indian Wells, he’s a Masters champion. I need to be at my best to try and beat him.”
Meanwhile Madison Keys shocked Iga Swiatek 6-3 6-4 on Thursday to move into the Cincinnati Open quarterfinals, further disrupting the world No 1’s preparations for the US Open.
Swiatek, who won her 50th match of the year in the previous round, saved four match points but was far from her best as she again exited a second tournament in the US swing at the last-16 stage after last week’s Canadian Open.
Keys, Cincinnati champion in 2019, had never taken a set off Poland’s Swiatek in two previous meetings but the American was far more clinical with her powerful returns and groundstrokes, breaking the world No 1 five times.
Keys will next face Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, who beat Alison Riske-Amritraj 6-2 6-4 to sail into the quarterfinals.
Wimbledon runner-up and fifth seed Ons Jabeur was knocked out by Czech Petra Kvitova 6-1 4-6 6-0.
Jabeur served poorly in the opening set with four double faults but the Tunisian put up a brave fight in the second to take the match to a decider.
However, Jabeur wilted in the blazing sunshine and although she saved two match points, Kvitova secured her place in the last eight.