'I'm a [hard-court] specialist'-Daniil Medvedev rails against BNP Paribas Open surface

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Daniil Medvedev may be best known for his results on hard courts—he’s won 18 of his 20 career titles on that surface—but he’s proven himself to be a major threat on grass courts, too, having reached back-to-back semifinals at Wimbledon the last two years.

Last week he began his 2025 grass-court season by reaching the quarterfinals in ’s-Hertogenbosch, and on Wednesday he reached another quarterfinal, this time in Halle, after defeating France’s Quentin Halys, 6-2, 7-5, in the second round of the ATP 500 event.

But there was something even more special about Medvedev’s victory over Halys—it was the milestone 400th win of his career.

The former world No. 1 is the third man born in 1990 or later to hit that number, after Grigor Dimitrov and Alexander Zverev.

MOST WINS, MEN BORN IN 1990 OR LATER (tour-level):

  • 496: Alexander Zverev [born in 1997]
  • 473: Grigor Dimitrov [born in 1991]
  • 400: Daniil Medvedev [born in 1996]
  • 383: Milos Raonic [born in 1990]
  • 364: Stefanos Tsitsipas [born in 1998] (playing later today)
With his win on Wednesday, Medvedev has now won 14 of his last 18 matches on grass.

With his win on Wednesday, Medvedev has now won 14 of his last 18 matches on grass.

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After blowing through the first set in just 24 minutes on Wednesday, Medvedev faced some resistance in the second set, as Halys stayed on serve with him through the first 10 games—but the 2021 US Open champion snuck out one last break for 6-5 and served it out, finishing if off in style with a 63-second love service game.

Medvedev had almost four times as many winners as unforced errors, 22 to 6, highlighted by 10 aces to 0 double faults.

This is the first time he's reached the quarterfinals at back-to-back tournaments since reaching the quarters or better at four straight tournaments between February and March, on hard courts.

Up next for him will be either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Alex Michelsen, who played their second-round match later on Wednesday.