Four trips to Beijing. Four trips to the final four for Daniil Medvedev.
Medvedev defeated Francisco Cerúndolo 7-6 (4), 6-3 on Sunday to keep his perfect semifinal streak at the China Open alive. He’s still searching for his first title in Beijing.
The former World No. 1, who is coming off a title at Hangzhou last week, acknowledged that his victory over Cerúndolo wasn’t an easy one.
“He’s probably one of the best returners on tour,” said Medvedev, the 2023 China Open runner-up said. “Francisco is a very tough opponent, so I’m happy with the way I played.”
Medvedev will play six-time China Open champion Novak Djokovic in the second semifinal on Monday.
Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz defeated Karen Khachanov 7-6 (2), 6-2 and Australia’s Alex de Minaur took out Andrey Rublev in a rollercoaster 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 battle to set up the first semifinal.
Both Medvedev and Cerúndolo showed power from the start as the match kicked off with a four-deuce first game, with Medvedev eventually breaking Cerúndolo’s serve.
Medvedev looked to be in good shape to take the first set after going up 4-2, but the Argentinian came back with a vengeance, eager to settle the set with a tie breaker. The two continued to exchange forceful rallies throughout the tie breaker, yet Medvedev edged out Cerúndolo 7-4 after a missed overhead shot.
Medvedev found his groove in the second set and broke Cerúndolo’s to go up 5-3. Medvedev held serve at love to finish out the win.
However, Medvedev has a tough road ahead of him before playing in his second China Open final. The 30-year-old Russian said he is prepared.
“We haven’t played since the US Open Final…It’s been three years,” he said of Djokovic. “It would be fun to play against him. He’s the legend and still playing so good.”
Hurkacz, formerly world No. 6, has been rapidly rising recently after recovering from a knee injury that caused him to miss a lot of time in 2025. The Pole made a run to the final in Chengdu last week.
“There were periods where I wasn’t winning many matches,” Hurkacz said. “Just staying resilient every day and staying on the path.”
Hurkacz faced a break point in the first game of the match, deleting it with an unreturned serve to Khachanov’s forehand. Hurkacz continued to find success serving hard into the Russian’s forehand, allowing no more break points in the match.
Both players held serve comfortably after the first game, resulting in a tiebreaker to decide the opening set. Hurkacz displayed aggressive play from the baseline to take control and ultimately win the first set.
“I’m really pleased with how I played and how I managed to be aggressive today,” Hurkacz said.
Khachanov’s movement looked slightly compromised in the second set, not running to balls in the corners that he was retrieving earlier in the match. The Russian held to go up 2-1 in the second, before Hurkacz won the next five games in a row to seal the match.
“Super grateful for all the support, and it’s fun to play again in China,” Hurkacz said. “I really missed it.”
De Minaur took out Rublev in a rollercoaster three-set match. This is the second consecutive China Open semifinal for De Minaur, who lost to Jannik Sinner in three sets last year.
Rublev broke de Minaur early in the first set, dominating the rallies with his forehand.
“Andrey came out hot off the blocks,” de Minaur said. “There were some brutal rallies, he was not missing.”
Rublev stayed in control, winning the first set in just over a half-hour.
Things didn’t stay smooth for long, as he let out a scream of frustration in the first game of the second set after de Minaur went up 40-love while serving.
Rublev was unable to retain his rhythm from the first set, losing his serve twice in the second set.
“What I did really well is change it up,” de Minaur said. “Give different heights, different spins, different speeds, try to get him out of that rhythm he was in.”
De Minaur got a tough hold at the start of the third before breaking Rublev in the next game. De Minaur broke Rublev again to make it 5-3 before closing out the match by holding at love.
De Minaur said he is prepared for another battle in his next match against Hurkacz. De Minaur has a 3-1 edge in their head-to-head.
“There’s nothing easy out here,” de Minaur said. “I’m excited for it.”
By Maggie Bane and Ellis von Fintel
Weibo@ChinaOpen
WeChat Channel
Douyin@ChinaOpen
