DPA
New York
Russian friends Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev will meet in the quarter-finals of the US Open.
Former tournament winner Medvedev won his round of 16 match against Australian Alex de Minaur 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 on Monday evening.
Earlier, Rublev had defeated Britain’s Jack Draper 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
"It’s something already like a family now because I’m a Godfather of his daughter,” said the 25-year-old Rublev, describing his relationship with Medvedev, who is two years older.
"We built our relationship because of tennis, but now it’s already bigger than tennis. We’ve known each other since we were six years old, maybe. So we have a great relationship ... when you spend time with him you always have fun.”
Medvedev won the 2021 Grand Slam tournament title in New York and is now through to at least the quarter-finals for the fourth time in the past five years.
Rublev reached the round of the best eight at the US Open for the fourth time in his career. However, he has never reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament. At both the Australian Open and the US Open, he was stopped once in the quarter-finals by Medvedev.
Zverev to face Alcaraz
German player Alexander Zverev has reached the quarter-finals of the US Open for the third time in a row in a five-set thriller.
The Olympic champion beat the slightly favoured Italian Jannik Sinner 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 after 4 hours and 41 minutes early on Tuesday. Zverev will now meet defending champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain.
The 26-year-old from Hamburg and his opponent, who is four years younger, were plagued by physical problems in the course of the gripping match, with temperatures of 27 degrees Celsius and high humidity.
In the middle of the fourth set, Zverev’s concentration suffered after a spectator shouted a Nazi slogan, but he came back strongly in the fifth set.
For Zverev, it is the 10th quarter-final appearance in a Grand Slam tournament, drawing level with former German professional Michael Stich. Only Boris Becker made it more often in the men’s professional era as a German tennis player.