Medvedev shows form of old in comfortable Auger-Aliassime win at Rotterdam Open

There will be a new name on the Rotterdam Open trophy this year after Daniil Medvedev saw off Felix Auger-Aliassime in a comfortable quarter-final on Friday.

The Russian silenced those who had questioned his ability to remain a top ten player after his early Australian Open defeat in January to secure a solid victory over World No. 8 Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 6-4, in one hour 23 minutes. The win sets up a semi-final with Grigor Dimitrov who earlier came through a deciding set win against Alex De Minuar.

Medvedev started like a man with a point to prove, getting a look at a breakpoint early in the first set before his Canadian opponent served it out. But the former World No.1 wasn’t to be denied in the next Auger-Aliassime service game, breaking for a 3-2 lead on his second break point. This looked like the Medvedev of old, the 27-year-old scrambling, chasing and hustling on every point and he quickly broke again to take a 5-2 lead. It was all Medvedev and the man from Moscow fought off two break points to take the set 6-2 with just four unforced errors.

It was looking like an out-of-character performance by Auger-Aliassime, a man who had finished 2022 so strongly, winning three titles back-to-back and helping Canada win the Davis Cup for the first time. But he found himself up against a superb defensive display and a double fault handed Medvedev an early break in set two.

Last year’s winner didn’t want to exit without a fight though and immediately broke back to level the match at 2-2. But it was one of those days when Medvedev had his eye in and the current World No. 11 forced an Auger-Aliassime forehand wide to break again. The Russian was in full flow now, winning the point of the match when sending a volley cross-court when consolidating the break to lead 5-3.

And he wrapped up his first top ten win since the semi-finals of the Australian Open in 2022 with a tricky hold to depose Auger-Aliassime as Rotterdam champion. Medvedev - who is bidding for his first title since Vienna in October last year - takes a 4-2 head-to-head record into his match with Dimitrov.