Khachanov, Sinner, and Djokovic advance to quarter-finals
\nMONTE CARLO
\nDaniil Medvedev was again drawn into a heated exchange with an umpire before crashing out of the Monte Carlo Masters in a 6-3 7-5 defeat by Karen Khachanov in the last 16 on Thursday, while Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner advanced to the quarter-finals.
\nFourth seed Medvedev, who had reached at least the quarter-finals in his last two appearances at Monte Carlo, never truly got going against fellow-Russian Khachanov. After a topsy-turvy start with four breaks in the first four games, Medvedev double-faulted to gift Khachanov the lead at 5-3, with the world number 17 holding serve comfortably to clinch the opening set. Medvedev shook off some of his early rustiness in the second and had set point when he was 5-4 up, but squandered that opportunity and was unable to break Khachanov\u2019s serve.
\nKhachanov\u2019s hold under pressure proved the final straw for Medvedev, who faded quickly and hurled his racket against the backboard after an erroneous call from a line judge. \u201cOpen your freaking eyes,\u201d Medvedev, who also argued with the chair umpire after his win over Gael Monfils on Wednesday, shouted at the umpire and supervisor, before being issued a point penalty.
\nKhachanov reached the last eight in Monte Carlo for the first time. \u201cMentally, even though I\u2019ve lost a few hard matches to him on hard courts, I know he doesn\u2019t like to play on clay and that gives me some extra confidence,\u201d Khachanov said in his on-court interview. \u201cSometimes I know Daniil can lose his mind. Sometimes he uses it as a tool, but it can get out of control sometimes. I tried not to look at him or focus on him, and just serve it out.\u201d World number one Djokovic looked in trouble early on, but rallied to win 7-5 6-3 against Lorenzo Musetti, the player who knocked the Serb out at this stage in last year\u2019s tournament.
\nThe Italian broke in the opening game before Djokovic bounced back with two breaks to take the first set. The pair traded breaks twice in the second set, but Djokovic broke a third time to make it 5-3 and held serve to advance. \u201cHe was the better player for those first seven games, played some great tennis,\u201d Djokovic said.
\n\u201cBut this is clay and obviously things can turn around very quickly and a break of serve is not as big advantage on this surface compared to the other surfaces.\u201d
\nDjokovic, twice Monte Carlo champion, has not advanced beyond the quarter-final stage since he won in 2015, and will face 11th seed Alex de Minaur who beat Alexei Popyrin 6-3 6-4 in an all-Australian clash. Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner had little trouble in defeating Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4 6-2, despite the German breaking serve in the opening set. \u201cI broke him quite early and then he broke me back,\u201d Sinner said. \u201cI knew it was going to be really tough but I guess I returned really well, especially on second serves. I can be very happy.\u201d
\nSinner will next face seventh seed Holger Rune in a rematch of last-year\u2019s semi-final, which was won by the Dane. Rune finished off his rain-delayed clash against Sumit Nagal with a 6-3 3-6 6-2 win, before returning to court to see off Grigor Dimitrov 7-6(9) 3-6 7-6(2) in a three-and-a-half-hour thriller. \u201cIt was a great match. It was tough physically. I had a match earlier today which was two sets, so I played five sets today actually, which is pretty brutal,\u201d Rune said.
\nTwice Monte Carlo champion Stefanos Tsitsipas defied a spirited comeback from fifth seed Alexander Zverev to win 7-5 7-6(3). The Greek 12th seed took a 5-0 lead in the second set before the German made an impressive recovery. Tsitsipas, winner in 2021 and 2022, held his nerve in the tiebreak to reach the quarter-finals where he will meet Khachanov. Norwegian eighth seed Casper Ruud also reached the last eight after beating Hubert Hurkacz 6-4 6-2 and will meet 14th seed Ugo Humbert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Khachanov, Sinner, and Djokovic advance to quarter-finals MONTE CARLO Daniil Medvedev was again drawn into a heated exchange with an umpire before crashing out of the Monte Carlo Masters in a 6-3 7-5 defeat by Karen Khachanov in the last 16 on Thursday, while Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner advanced to the quarter-finals. Fourth seed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-399844","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n