Stefanos Tsitsipas – Photo Credit: Flickr

Daniil Medvedev of Russia powered through a rough patch to beat James Duckworth 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday and he reached the quarter-finals of the ATP Toronto Masters. Medvedev was in cruise control, up a set and 5-1 in the third-round match, when he was broken by his 85th-ranked Australian opponent. But the 2019 Canada finalist regained his edge to close out the win in 69 minutes on a second match point.

“When your back is against the wall, you play much better,” Medvedev said of Duckworth. “He came closer at the end and put pressure on me. I handled it. I’m really happy with this win. I had never trained with him or played him, so I didn’t exactly know what to expect. Sometimes, you need to find out things during the match.”

Medvedev finished with 10 aces as he reached his eighth quarter-final at the Masters level, all achieved since 2019. He produced 20 winners and 15 unforced errors.

Meanwhile, third-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas celebrated his 23rd birthday with a solid 6-3, 6-2 victory over Olympic silver medallist Karen Khachanov that put him into his fourth Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season. The Greek set up a last-eight meeting with in-form Norwegian Casper Ruud, who extended his summer win streak to 13 matches.