Daniil Medvedev stopped the rot of losses against Roberto Bautista Agut in Halle as he reached the semi-finals.
The World number one advanced to the last four in Germany with a 6-2 6-4 victory over the Spaniard.
Friday’s victory saw Medvedev win his first match in four attempts against the Spaniard as the Russian broke on three occasions.
However an easy win on paper was a very difficult win in reality as he saved nine break points throughout the match and that’s something the Russian spoke about after the contest, “I remember all the matches we had… He was playing some [great] tennis and it was tough for me to win,” Medvedev told the ATP website.
“Today I had my plan, managed to keep it going. Definitely got more edge on the most important points, because he had more break points than me. It was not easy, and I’m happy to win.”
Medvedev will now play Oscar Otte in the semi-finals, who like Medvedev is into his second consecutive ATP semi-final.
The German serve-and-volleyer defeated Karen Khachanov in three sets to book his place in the last four.
Ahead of the match Medvedev spoke about practicing with the German and his mindset heading into Saturday’s contest, “I know that he’s a great player, especially on grass and he plays very good on clay also,” Medvedev said.
“He made the semis [in Stuttgart] last week, losing to Matteo [Berrettini] in two tie-breakers. So he’s a great player, great serve, great volleyer- So it’s not going to be easy. I need to prepare well, show my best tennis and try to win.
“We’ve warmed up twice [together] and practised once [this week], even playing a set which ended in a tie-break. So we’ve started to know each other better and better, so it’s actually fun that we are playing each other tomorrow, because when you practise with one player a lot, it’s fun to see him in the tournament later in the week. But tomorrow we are definitely not going to be friends!”
The other semi-final in Halle will see fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz take on Nick Kyrgios.
Hurkacz defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-finals in two tiebreaks while Kyrgios easily defeated Pablo Carreno Busta.
Both semi-finals will see a first-time meeting between the players with the semi-finals getting underway at 13:30 BST.
