Medvedev serves his way to Indian Wells QFs

Fourth seed Daniil Medvedev moved one step closer to his first title of 2024 and maiden BNP Paribas Open crown on Friday, when he cruised past Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-4 and booked his place in the quarter-finals.

"I think in general I played well. I was really consistent," said Medvedev, who committed just 13 unforced errors. "I'm happy to beat such a great opponent in Grigor. To play against him is always a challenge and I'm happy I managed to overcome it this time."

Medvedev was dominant on serve, dropping just five points behind his first delivery (26/31) according to Infosys ATP stats, and created break chances by varying his return position. He earned his first break in the fifth game of the opening set after the Bulgarian double faulted down break point, perhaps feeling the pressure of Medvedev who was inside the baseline.

Despite letting slip a 0/40 lead at 5-3, Medvedev quickly regrouped and gained a one-set advantage behind his own serve. For 75 minutes, Medvedev displayed top-tier shotmaking, finding winners from any position to improve to 7-3 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Dimitrov, who beat the World No. 4 in Indian Wells three years ago.

Next up for Medvedev is seventh seed Holger Rune, who saved a match point to beat 12th seed Taylor Fritz 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-3.

Medvedev has won all hard-court ATP Masters 1000 events except for one: the BNP Paribas Open, where his best result is a final appearance last year. He is aiming to be the tournament’s sixth consecutive first-time champion.

Dimitrov will rue his 29 unforced errors, 15 of which came off his forehand. The 32-year-old was seeking his third consecutive Masters 1000 quarter-final after reaching the Shanghai semis and Paris final last year.