Medvedev keeps winning, Kerber finds form in Osaka

Daniil Medvedev is eyeing his fifth final in two months after beating fellow Russian Andrei Rublev 6-4 7-5 in the quarterfinals of the St Petersburg Open.

In his first tournament since losing the US Open final to Rafael Nadal, Medvedev will play a semifinal on Saturday against Belarusian qualifier Egor Gerasimov, who beat Matteo Berrettini 7-6(5) 7-6(3).

Before the US Open, Medvedev reached three tour finals in August, winning in Cincinnati but losing in Washington DC and Montreal.

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Borna Coric, seeded fourth in St Petersburg, faces qualifier Joao Sousa in the other semifinal.

Coric won his quarterfinal 3-6 7-5 6-3 against Casper Ruud, who had not won a tour-level match indoors until this week.

Sousa upset 2010 St Petersburg champion Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6(8) 6-2.

Kerber into Osaka semifinals

Fourth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany reached the semifinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open when fifth-seeded Madison Keys withdrew in the decisive set on Friday at Osaka, Japan.

Kerber led 6-4, 4-6, 2-1 when Keys couldn’t continue due to a foot injury. Kerber had 18 winners and 13 unforced errors, while Keys hit 39 winners and committed 33 unforced errors.

“It was a really good match in the first two sets, and this is never the way that you want to win the match. I hope Madison will recover really soon so she is ready for the next tournaments,” said Kerber, who improves her head-to-head record over Keys to 9-2.

“I tried to give everything I could today, and I’m looking forward to playing the next round.”

The match was the only one completed due to weather conditions as Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova led Japan’s Misaki Doi 2-0 in the first set when play was halted.

That match is scheduled to be completed on Saturday, when postponed quarterfinal matches between top-seeded Naomi Osaka of Japan and Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva and ninth-seeded Belgian Elise Mertens and Italy’s Camila Giorgi will also take place.