On Tuesday, May 12, the fourth round of the men’s singles at the Masters 1000 tournament in Rome took place. The last match of the day featured 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev. Earlier on the same day, Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev had already secured their spots in the quarterfinals, raising hopes for a maximal Russian presence in the top eight—three players.
Rublev and Khachanov are already through to the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters! Andrey will next face Sinner.
Medvedev, seeded seventh, came from behind in the third round to beat Pablo Llamas Ruiz (3:6, 6:4, 6:2). It was Daniil’s first match of the tournament after receiving a walkover in the second round when Tomas Machac withdrew. Today, his opponent was Argentine Thiago Agustin Tirante, ranked 69th in the world. In his two previous matches, Tirante had knocked out seeded players Cameron Norrie and Flavio Cobolli, both times without dropping a set.
ATP-1000. Rome 2026. Tournament bracket.
Before the match, Medvedev praised Tirante’s serve. “He serves really well. I’ve never played against him, but just looking at the radar, his serve is… even Opelka or Mpetshi Perricard maybe don’t serve like that. So it will be very interesting to see how I handle that serve on court. But he does lose matches, even with that serve. So it’ll be interesting. I’ve never played him or practiced with him. So we’ll talk with my coach about the match and then we’ll work,” he said in an interview.
At the start of the match, Medvedev immediately lost his serve—Tirante was solid on return and broke. However, the Argentine couldn’t build on that. He struggled with his first serve, and the Russian leveled at 1-1. After 2-2, Daniil won two consecutive games, paving the way for his first-set victory. In the fifth game, he saved a break point earned by a double fault, then broke again, and consolidated the break for 5-2. Serving at 5-3, Medvedev closed out the set 6-3 in 39 minutes. He played much cleaner: nine winners to eight for Tirante, and just five unforced errors to 13.
It’s not that Medvedev dominated, but his advantage was clear. He started the second set with a break, confirmed it, and then faced no break points on his serve. In the fifth game, he broke again to lead 4-1 with two breaks. The set wasn’t entirely straightforward, as Tirante kept creating chances on return, but he missed all three break points in the sixth game—Medvedev led 5-1. The Russian could have finished it earlier but missed three match points on return. It didn’t matter: after the changeover, Medvedev served out the match cleanly, winning 6:3, 6:2 in 1 hour 23 minutes.
This is the second time in his career Medvedev has reached the Rome quarterfinals—three years ago he won the title here, his only clay-court trophy so far. It’s his 27th Masters 1000 quarterfinal appearance. This season, he has a 15-1 record against players outside the top 50 (the only loss was to Matteo Berrettini in Monte Carlo, 0:6, 0:6). When winning the first set this season, Medvedev is 18-0. With 23 wins this season, he has surpassed Carlos Alcaraz and Arthur Fils (22 each). Only Alexander Zverev (28) and Jannik Sinner (33) have more.
For the first time in history, Medvedev, Rublev, and Khachanov have all reached the quarterfinals of a tournament featuring all top players (Masters or Grand Slam).
In the semifinal, Medvedev will face lucky loser Martin Landaluce, ranked 94th. The 20-year-old Spaniard defeated Hamad Medjedovic in the fourth round 7:5, 6:4.
The Rome Masters concludes on May 17.