Medvedev marches on with 11th straight victory

Daniil Medvedev polished his record against good friend Alexander Bublik, reaching the Dubai quarter-finals on Wednesday 6-4, 6-2 as he stretched his ATP win streak to 11 straight.

The former No. 1 has beaten the Kazakh all five times they have played; his latest effort took a mere 64 minutes and was finished with a surprise underarm serve which Bublik could not handle.

Medvedev won titles at his last two events, in Rotterdam and last week in Doha, and said he is feeling better the longer he goes undefeated.

“Confidence is important,” he said. “I don;’t want to stop this unless I feel bad physically.

“Coming from Europe last week, I didn’t feel that great in Doha but my game ran well.

“It’s even better here. I’m at 100 per cent and looking forward to my next matches.”

Medvedev will on Thursday bid for the semis against Borna Coric, who defeated Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-5 in their second-rounder.

Bublik – who lost his first eight matches of the season until a win barely a week ago in Marseille –  was level-pegging until the ninth game, when Medvedev broke serve and seized the initiative.

Medvedev and Coric last met in 2019, with the 2121 US Open champion winning the St Petersburg final over the Croat.