By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, October 10, 2025
Photo credit: Hangzhou Open
Daniil Medvedev punctuated a declaration of desire with emphatic exclamation point.
Medvedev pounded down an ace out wide closing a 6-4, 6-4 conquest of Alex de Minaur to advance to his 16th ATP Masters 1000 semifinal at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.
It is Medvedev’s 50th career Top 10 win and 50th hard-court semifinal.
The owner of 20 titles in 20 different tournaments continues his quest to win the same tournament twice for the first time.
World No. 18 Medvedev will face surprise semifinalist Arthur Rinderknech for a spot in the final.
Earlier, Rinderknech did not drop serve in a 6-3, 6-4 upset of US Open semifinalist Felix Auger-Aliassime to join his cousin, Valentin Vacherot, in making his ATP Masters 1000 semifinal debut.
It’s been a wild ride for Medvedev, who has endured cramping and some marathon matches, but the former US Open champion was efficient against ATP hard-court win leader de Minaur.
Medvedev saved all six break points he faced today and won 15 of 16 first-serve points in the second set.
Former world No. 1 Medvedev reeled off eight of nine points drawing first-break blood at love for a 3-2 lead.
Pushed into a double break point hole, Medvedev answered with two full-stretch backhand volley winners down the line—arguably his best volleys of the tournament—to hold firm and back up the break for 4-2.
The lanky Russian repelled two more break points in the eighth game then stung de Minaur with a brilliant backhand pass down the line on the run holding for 5-3.
Serving for the set, Medvedev faced a break point for the third consecutive service game and erased it with a serve winner down the T.
Twice, Medvedev double faulted away game points as tension tightened.
On his third set point, Medvedev swooped forward and swatted a forehand swing volley winner closing an eight-minute hold to take the opening set after one hour of play.
The 2019 champion saved all five break points he faced in the set.
World No. 7 de Minaur dodged a pair of break points to start the second set with a gritty hold.
Eighty-seven minutes into the match, de Minaur cracked his first ace of the match holding for 3-2.
Conjuring creative counterstrikes on the run helped Medvedev carve out the break in the ninth game.
De Minaur sailed a bounce smash and hit his first double fault as he dropped into a double break point hole. Playing defense throughout the point, Medvedev was well behind the baseline when he curled a running backhand strike down the line scoring a superb break for a 5-4 second-set lead.
50 ATP hard court Semi-Finals 🤩
Daniil Medvedev defeats Alex de Minaur 6-4 6-4 to reach this significant milestone in his career 🤝#RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/DOnlyAAUw3
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 10, 2025
The 29-year-old Medvedev whipped his fifth ace to seal a hard-fought win in one hour, 53 minutes.
