Daniil Medvedev moved a step closer to celebrating his impending return to World No. 1 with a trophy on Friday, when he overcame Ilya Ivashka in a keenly contested quarter-final clash at the Libema Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

The top seed battled through a tricky opening set and was resilient in defence in the second to complete a 7-6(8), 6-4 victory at the ATP 250 event in The Netherlands. Although Medvedev struggled to find his free-flowing best against the World No. 41, he displayed resilience and top-class movement to frustrate his opponent and wrap up a one-hour, 51-minute victory.

Medvedev is set to reclaim the No. 1 spot in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday for the first time since March. The win earns Medvedev a 2-1 lead in his ATP Head2Head series with Ivashka, who is winless in his three tour-level quarter-finals in 2022.

Medvedev’s semi-final opponent is Adrian Mannarino. The Frenchman, who won the most recent edition of the ATP 250 event in The Netherlands in 2019, earlier overcame #NextGenATP American Brandon Nakashima, 6-7(5, 6-1, 6-4.

More to follow…