Daniil Medvedev earned his 41st hard-court win of the season on Monday when he recovered from a mid-match dip to down Ugo Humbert 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 at the China Open.
The second seed, who has recorded the most hard-court wins on Tour in 2023, struggled to find his best level throughout the first two sets, misfiring from the baseline to give Frenchman Humbert a foothold. Medvedev upped his intensity in the third set, though, not committing an unforced error to advance after two hours and seven minutes.
“I’m kind of happy that I managed to raise my level in important moments, except a game in the second set,” Medvedev said. “It’s great that I managed to still find in this tough match these moments of consistency, which is enough to win. That’s what you have to do.
“I am happy to be in the semi-finals. When you come to the tournament, you always want to go as far as possible. Happy to still be here tomorrow. The further we go, the tougher the matches, the tougher the opponents. That’s normal.”
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Medvedev has now advanced to the semi-finals at 10 of the 18 tour-level events he has played this year. He will aim to reach his eighth title match when he takes on Alexander Zverev.
Earlier this year, Medvedev captured hard-court titles in Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai and Miami. The 27-year-old is chasing his second trophy on Chinese soil and his third in Asia overall at the Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Center, having triumphed in Tokyo in 2018 and at the Rolex Shanghai Masters in 2019. He is making his debut in Beijing, where he has also defeated Tommy Paul and Alex de Minaur.
Zverev extended his winning streak to seven matches when he defeated Chilean Nicolas Jarry 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-3. The German, who triumphed in Chengdu last week, struck 27 winners, including 13 aces, to reach his 60th tour-level semi-final after two hours and 21 minutes.
The German, who has earned 49 wins this year, is currently seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin and will rise to fifth if he wins the title in Beijing. Zverev has won 15 of his past 17 matches dating back to Cincinnati in August when he reached the semi-finals. If he maintains his form, he looks set to compete at the Nitto ATP Finals, a trophy he has won twice.