Medvedev Serves Past Halys In Miami To Set Eubanks Clash

The in-form Daniil Medvedev produced a superb serving performance in the early hours of Wednesday morning to see off Quentin Halys and reach the quarter-finals of the 2023 Miami Open presented by Itau.

In a match delayed until after midnight due to rain in South Florida, the fourth seed won 82 per cent (32/39) of points behind his first serve and did not face a break point in his 70-minute victory against the World No. 79. Now into his third consecutive quarter-final in Miami, the 27-year-old will hope to carry his recent red-hot form into his last-eight clash against home favourite Christopher Eubanks.

“I thought it was going to be cancelled,” said Medvedev after producing a clinical performance against Halys after the long rain delay. “I’m pretty happy that I managed to play not so bad, becauset was not easy. I think that’s why Quentin was also missing a lot, because when you play at midnight… You usually sleep at midnight. So trying to play some tennis then [was tough].”

Locked in 🔒@DaniilMedwed overpowers Quentin Halys to secure the victory 6-4 6-2 🙌@MiamiOpen | #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/poWOHDeypx

— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 29, 2023

Medvedev converted the only break point of the first set in the fifth game to move ahead in his maiden ATP Head2Head meeting with Halys, and took further command of the encounter by breaking the Frenchman’s serve again the opening game of the second set. With Medvedev dialled in on serve, the fourth seed ultimately ran out a comfortable winner to improve his record for the 2023 season to 26-3.

That tally includes back-to-back title runs in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai. In Miami, the four-time ATP Masters 1000 champion is chasing his first title at this level since his 2021 victory in Toronto.