Tommy Paul powered his way into the quarterfinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia with a 6-1, 6-4 upset of defending champion Daniil Medvedev on Tuesday night. Paul needed only one hour and 13 minutes to advance.
Medvedev did not hold serve a single time in the first set and threw away an early break lead in the second. Paul broke the second-seeded Russian a total of five times.
“I think it was a pretty clean match for me, other than maybe the first or second game in both sets,” the 16th-ranked American commented. “I played some really good tennis. I played pretty aggressive–that was the game-plan coming in.”
Paul will face Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday after the Pole outlasted Sebastian Baez 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-4 in two hours and 39 minutes. Hurkacz previously defeated Rafael Nadal in the second round. The head-to-head series between Paul and Hurkacz is 1-1 heading into what will be their first clay-court contest.
A mostly surprising quarterfinal lineup in Rome also includes Alejandro Tabilo vs. Zhizhen Zhang, Alexander Zverev vs. Taylor Fritz, and Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Nicolas Jarry.
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nice one, TP