Medvedev Marching Towards Another Final In St. Petersburg

Daniil Medvedev showed no signs of slowing down on Friday as he made his fifth consecutive tour-level semi-final at the St. Petersburg Open. The 23-year-old Russian hit 12 aces and won 70 per cent of his second-serve return points to beat fifth-seeded countryman Andrey Rublev 6-4, 7-5.

The top-seeded Medvedev improved to 2-0 against Rublev after also beating him in Cincinnati en route to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title. Medvedev won 20 of his 23 matches during the during the North American hard-court swing and made four consecutive finals in Washington, Montreal, Cincinnati and the US Open.

He will try to reach a fifth consecutive title match on Saturday when he meets qualifier Egor Gerasimov of Belarus at the ATP 250. The 26-year-old upset US Open semi-finalist and Nitto ATP Finals hopeful Matteo Berrettini of Italy 7-6(5), 7-6(3) to make his first ATP Tour semi-final.

The win against No. 13 Berrettini is Gerasimov’s best by ATP Ranking, and the World No. 119, a career-high for Gerasimov, improved to 7-4 at tour-level this season.

Berrettini is currently in ninth place in the ATP Race To London. The top eight in the Race will compete at the season-ending championships, to be held 10-17 November at The O2 in London.