ATP Tour

Turin hopefuls De Minaur, Rublev set crunch clash in Beijing, Medvedev wins

Alex de Minaur and Andrey Rublev each showcased their willingness to dig deep for a quarter-final spot on Saturday at the China Open in Beijing.

Both players ground out a three-set victory on the hard courts of the ATP 500 event to reach the last eight and simultaneously boost their hopes of a late-season charge towards the Nitto ATP Finals. The No. 10 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, De Minaur edged Quentin Halys 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-5. The Australian had earlier rallied from 3-5 in the second set, and then prevailed in a thrilling third set in which he initially failed to serve out the match from 5-4, 40/0.

“My head was at, ‘Let's not let this affect me’," De Minaur said in his post-match press conference when asked about letting slip the match points at 5-4. “That's basically it. Of course, I would have loved to have closed it out there. There were some questionable decisions I made in those moments.

“The best way is to just give yourself another chance. I would have felt a lot, lot worse if I let that game affect me and I got in a bad mood, then all of a sudden I let it dictate the next two games of that match. We're too much in a crucial point of the match to kind of dwell on it too much. I'm glad that I bounced back straightaway. I played a great game to break. I learned from my mistakes and got the job done.”

Currently 11th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, De Minaur is chasing his third consecutive appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, which this year will run from 15 to 22 November at the Inalpi Arena in Turin. His next assignment in Beijing is a quarter-final clash with Rublev, who is an outside contender at 18th in the Live Race but appears to be rounding into form in Asia.

Having reached the AITO Hangzhou Open final earlier this week before falling to Daniil Medvedev, Rublev on Saturday reached the Beijing quarter-finals for the third time by sinking Roman Safiullin 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. The 27-year-old De Minaur and 28-year-old Rublev are tied at 4-4 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, with Rublev saving a match point to win their most recent meeting in Doha in February 2025.

Medvedev also progressed to the last eight in Beijing on Saturday, when he overcame Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 6-3. The third seed converted three of nine break points he earned to extend his winning streak to six matches and extend his Lexus ATP Head2Head lead over Struff to 9-2.

Sitting eighth in the Live Race, Medvedev will hope to boost his Turin qualification hopes further on Sunday when he takes on eighth seed Jakub Mensik or Francisco Cerundolo for a semi-final spot in Beijing.