Daniil Medvedev advanced into the next round at the Shanghai Masters after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 7-5 at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena.
The world No 5 delivered a stellar display to prevail against 43rd-ranked Tsitsipas in the fourth round at the Masters 1000 tournament.
Former world No 1 Medvedev now holds a 11-5 record against his long-time rival Tsitsipas — who is a former world No 3.
Medvedev’s showdown with the Greek took place on Stadium Court — which is the main show court at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai.
The 30-year-old Russian’s wins against Jan-Lennard Struff and Dalibor Svrcina in his first two matches in Shanghai were both played on the Grandstand 2 court.
In his on-court interview with Tennis TV after beating Tsitsipas, Medvedev revealed he now understood Djokovic’s comments after initially being baffled.
“First of all, super strange, the court is like three times faster than the other one,” said the 2021 US Open champion.
“When I heard Novak after his match, and he said the court is so much faster than Beijing, I was like, ‘okay, let’s see’.
“I played on Grandstand (the day after Djokovic), I was like, ‘what is he talking about?’ I mean, it’s same or even slower.
“And this one on the warmup, I was like, ‘Jesus Christ, it’s so fast!’, which is good for me, but I needed to reset because it’s completely different court from what I played before.
“But that helped me, I think. I played really aggressive, I put a lot of pressure on him. I managed to beat him.”
