Medvedev beats Davidovich Fokina to reach Indian Wells semis

Russia’s Daniil Medvedev reaches for a backhand return to Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
| Photo Credit: AFP

Daniil Medvedev defeated a determined Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 7-5 on Wednesday to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells and push his ATP match winning streak to 18 straight.

The world number six from Russia showed little ill effect from the twisted ankle he suffered in a win over Alexander Zverev a day earlier.

He raced through the opening set, a break of the Spaniard’s serve in the second game the only opening he needed as he lost just six points on his serve on the way to pocketing the set in 39 minutes.

“I’m actually happy the ankle didn’t hurt much because when I warmed up it was hurting pretty bad and I was like ‘I knew I’m going to play, I knew I’m going to try,’ but I couldn’t move well on the warmup,” Medvedev said.

“I tried to warm it up as long as possible and take one painkiller so that probably helped and I was actually feeling better and better during the match,” added the former US Open champion.

It was a different story in the second set on a windy Stadium Court. Davidovich Fokina had a break chance in each of Medvedev’s first three service games, only for the Russian to come up with big serves to fend him off.

Davidovich Fokina was up 0-40 in the eighth game only for Medvedev to escape.

Along the way Medvedev had another fall on the court, this time scraping his hand and requiring the trainer to bandage his bloody thumb.

Frustrating Davidovich Fokina from the baseline, Medvedev pounced at the Spaniard’s first sign of weakness in the set, breaking him to love and quickly serving out the match — sealing it with a service winner.

Medvedev – who is coming off titles in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai in the three weeks leading into Indian Wells — now has two days off before he faces American Frances Tiafoe, who beat 2021 Indian Wells champion Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-4.