Daniil Medvedev
Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann will take on third seed Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-finals of the Italian Open
Yannick Hanfmann has had a fairy-tale run so far at the Italian Open. Hanfmann progressed to the main draw of the tournament after winning two rounds of qualifiers.
The 31-year-old German beat Julien Ocleppo and Hugo Grenier in the two qualifying rounds. In his first-round match of the main draw, Hanfmann defeated Chile’s Nicolas Jarry 6-4, 6-4 and then went on to register a memorable victory against the higher-ranked Taylor Fritz.
The German ace followed it up with a victory against Marco Cechinatto before pulling off a major upset against 6th seed Andrey Rublev. Hanfmann’s journey thus far in Rome has been nothing short of incredible and it will be interesting to see if he has more surprises up his sleeves.
Daniil Medvedev has had a great season so far, having already won 4 titles on the ATP tour – ATP Rotterdam, the Qatar Open, the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Miami Open. Medvedev’s consistency is his greatest strength, and, on his day, he just comes across as invincible. The Russian has maintained his ruthless form at the Italian Open in Rome and is now all set for the business end of the tournament.
The third seed has been in ominous touch in the tournament and has dropped only one set so far. He began his campaign with a comfortable victory over Emil Ruusuvuori and then registered a hard-fought 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over Spain’s Zapata Miralles. The Russian star continued his magical run in the next round to get the better off Alexander Zverev and set up a quarter-final clash against Hanfmann.
Date – Thursday, 18th May
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – To be Announced
Location – Foro Italico
Match details – Quarter-final
Hanfmann and Medvedev have never played each other before on the ATP tour. This is the first professional head to head clash between the two players. On paper, Medvedev is the outright favourite both in terms of form and rankings. However, one can certainly not rule out the German and he is expected to put up a tough fight. We are predicting an intense encounter with Medvedev eventually edging out Hanfmann in three sets.
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