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Daniil Medvedev and Rafael Nadal had comfortable wins at the Mexican Open and are a match away from meeting in the semi-finals for a repeat of the epic Australian Open final they played out less than a month ago.
It’s pretty tough conditions, quite humid. Even if we play at night, it’s quite hot,. The faster the matches, the better you’re going to feel for the next one. Daniil Medvedev
That was won by the Spaniard and secured him the 21st grand slam of his remarkable career but the Russian is targeting the top world ranking which he would achieve if he wins the Mexican Open title.
Medvedev took another step toward that goal with a dominant 6-1 6-2 second-round victory over Spain’s 68-ranked Pablo Andujar while Nadal, unbeaten so far this season on the Tour, cruised past Stefan Kozlov 6-0 6-3.
“It’s pretty tough conditions, quite humid. Even if we play at night, it’s quite hot,” the top-seeded world No.2 Medvedev said. “The faster the matches, the better you’re going to feel for the next one.”
Rafael Nadal remains unbeataen on the tour this year
Meanwhile the fourth seeded Nadal continues his best start to an ATP Tour season by improving his win/loss record to 12-0 by eliminating the US Lucky Loser Kozlov in 76-minutes to face 39th-ranked American Tommy Paul, whom he has never played before.
“Always it’s important to win as quick as possible, but the most important thing is to win,” Nadal said. “Tonight has been straight sets. That’s great news and I’ll try to be ready for tomorrow again against a tough opponent.”
World number five Nadal, seeking his 91st career title and fourth Acapulco crown, also won a warm-up tournament last month in Melbourne.
“A little bit of a strange match,” Nadal added. “Kozlov has a different style than most other players, so you need to be very careful.
“Sometimes you are able to win points in a row, but then if you start to play at his rhythm, it’s very difficult because he has great control from the baseline and he’s very smart.”
Cameron Norrie is chasing his fourth title
There was also good news on the British front as Cameron Norrie came through a hard-fought battle with the big serving John Isner 6-7(2) 6-3 6-4 to make the last eight.
The British No,1 world ranked 12 and seeded sixth, will now face the German Lucky Loser Peter Gojowczyk, the beneficiary of Alexander Zverev’s disqualification for unsportsmanlike behaviour.
Isner struck 27 aces past the Brit but never managed to create a break point in the two-hour and 7-minute match.
Norrie remains on a semi-final collision course with world No 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas who took out American qualifier J.J Wolf 6-1 6-0 to meet another American, Marcos Giron, a 6-7(7) 6-4 7-6(4) winner over eighth-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain.