(Madrid) Daniil Medvedev twice overcame a break of serve delay in the final set and finally reached the round of 16 at the Madrid Open with a 4-6, 6-1, 7-win 5 against fellow Russian Alexander Shevchenko on Monday.

“He played well. He’s young and I’m sure he’ll go up the rankings, especially if he continues to play like he did here,” Medvedev said of Shevchenko, ranked 96th in the world.

Medvedev is 33-4 this season. In the next round, he will face the winner of the duel between Alex de Minaur and Aslan Karatsev.

Shevchenko, 22, appeared to be cramping late in the game. He took a 5-1 lead in the first set, but trailed 5-0 in the second. He then squandered a 2-0, 4-2 lead in the deciding set.

“I think I played pretty well in the second and third sets, and maybe late in the first set,” said Medvedev, ranked third in the world. For some reason, I have a hard time starting matches on clay. I need more time to get used to everything that happens on the pitch.

“In the third set, I could have done better in the important moments. In fact, I should have done a lot better. But I won and that’s what counts. »

This is the first time that Medvedev has won two games in a row in Madrid.

In the ladies, world queen Iga Swiatek will later face 16th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova with a place in the quarter-finals on the line.

Mayar Sherif defeated 24th seeded Belgian Elise Mertens 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 to become the first Egyptian to make the quarter-finals of a WTA 1000 tournament.

Irina-Camelia Begu upset 14th seed Liudmila Samsonova 6-4, 6-4 to win a third time against a member of the world’s top-20 in 2023. She will be making her third appearance in the quarter-finals at Madrid.