Medvedev, Moutet Ride into Almaty Semis Without Losing a Set
Second-seeded Daniil Medvedev knew he would need a sterling performance to get past dangerous Fabian Marozsan during Friday’s quarterfinal action in Almaty, and he produced an inspired effort to score a 7-5, 6-2 win. By doing so, Medvedev reaached his 62nd career ATP semifinal, and third in as many events.
«He’s an amazing player, I think at one moment during his career he had won more than 50 percent of his matches against the Top 10, which is pretty unbelievable,» Medvedev said, referring to Marozsan.
It was a tense battle in the opening set.
Medvedev calmly saved two set points while serving at 4-5, 15-40, but a third came for Marozsan. He would save a third as well. Overcoming that bit of adversity would prove beneficial for Medvedev – he broke Marozsan in the next game and served out the set at love, 7-5.
«The first set was really tough, I had to save three set points,» the former world No.1 said. «But I’m really happy with the way I played, especially after [those tough moments], and I’m really happy with the win.»
Momentum on his side, Medvedev broke again to start the second set, and was off to the races from there. He dominated the second set with pinpoint serving and a relentless attack, and finished off the win in one hour and six minutes.
Medvedev’s 81 percent first-serve percentage was the third best of his career in a best-of-three match, and he won 45 of 59 points on serve while saving all three break points that he faced.
Medvedev won nine of the final 11 games and finished the match with an impressive statline of 27 winners against just 12 unforced errors.
«I served really well today,» Medvedev said. «When I needed to step up I managed to step up, so I hope to continue playing this way.»
The 29-year-old Russian will face Aussie qualifier James Duckworth, a second-time semifinalist in Kazakhstan, next (he reached the final in Astana in 2021).
A day after stunning last year’s runner-up Gabriel Diallo in the second round, seed-slaying Duckworth knocked off third-seeded Flavio Cobolli, 6-3, 6-2, to book his third career ATP semifinal, and first in four years.
The 33-year-old qualifier was effective from start to finish as he earned his eighth career Top 30 win and broke an eight-match quarterfinal losing streak. He won 63 percent of his second-serve return points and converted all five break points that he saw in the 91-minute contest.
«I think I returned really well today, that was the biggest key,» said Duckworth. «Really happy with that aspect.»
Duckworth improves to 7-3 lifetime at the event. He lost his only previous meeting with Medvedev, in Canada in 2021.
«Just trying to play aggressive tennis, trying to stick to my game style,» he said. «I’ve been working really hard over the last few weeks and the results haven’t gone my way in the last six weeks or so, and it’s starting to pay off now.»
In the final match of the day session, sixth-seeded Alex Michelsen took all the punches that Japan’s Shintaro Mochizuki could throw, and countered with a few haymakers of his own to earn a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory in two hours and four minutes.
21-year-old Michelsen looked to be in serious trouble in the third set, down by a break at 2-1. But he dug deep and took the play to Mochizuki, racing away with the final five games as the world No.102 began to show his fatigue.
«I thought he was playing unbelievable for a little stretch there,» Michelsen said. «I wasn’t serving great but when I fixed that I felt like my service games got a lot easier. He was playing unbelievable so I was just competing as hard as I could and waiting for [his level to] drop.»
Michelsen entered Almaty on a five-match losing streak, and is thrilled to have turned his season around on his debut in Kazakhstan. He reached his seventh career semifinal and third of 2025.
«It’s really meaningful,» he said. «It’s been a tough stretch over the last couple of months so to be able to get back to the semifinals of a tournament is a good feeling.»
Michelsen will face Corentin Moutet in Saturday’s second semifinal.
The Frenchman has progressed to the semifinals without dropping a set, and he had to work extremely hard to keep it that way against Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff in the night session on Friday.
Moutet saved 15 of 18 break points against Struff, and rallied from a break down in the second set to notch his 29th victory of 2025, 6-4, 7-5.
«I’ve had very tough matches,» Moutet said of his run to the semis. «He had 18 break points, it’s always such a huge challenge to play against [Jan-Lennard], he has one of the best attitudes on tour and he’s very impressive.»
Moutet saved four break points while serving at 0-3 in the second set, then another four while serving at 2-3. He saved two more to hold for 4-all and used his momentum to charge through the final three games.
Delivering in the clutch has been a theme for Moutet this week. He saved five set points in the second set of his first-round match against Bernard Tomic, and rallied from 4-1 double-break down in the first set of his second-round match with Alexander Shevchenko.
Moutet and Michelsen have split their two ATP meetings, with Moutet winning an additional match with the American at Monte-Carlo qualifying.
«He’s an amazing player, I think at one moment during his career he had won more than 50 percent of his matches against the Top 10, which is pretty unbelievable,» Medvedev said, referring to Marozsan.
It was a tense battle in the opening set.
Medvedev calmly saved two set points while serving at 4-5, 15-40, but a third came for Marozsan. He would save a third as well. Overcoming that bit of adversity would prove beneficial for Medvedev – he broke Marozsan in the next game and served out the set at love, 7-5.
«The first set was really tough, I had to save three set points,» the former world No.1 said. «But I’m really happy with the way I played, especially after [those tough moments], and I’m really happy with the win.»
Momentum on his side, Medvedev broke again to start the second set, and was off to the races from there. He dominated the second set with pinpoint serving and a relentless attack, and finished off the win in one hour and six minutes.
Medvedev’s 81 percent first-serve percentage was the third best of his career in a best-of-three match, and he won 45 of 59 points on serve while saving all three break points that he faced.
Medvedev won nine of the final 11 games and finished the match with an impressive statline of 27 winners against just 12 unforced errors.
«I served really well today,» Medvedev said. «When I needed to step up I managed to step up, so I hope to continue playing this way.»
The 29-year-old Russian will face Aussie qualifier James Duckworth, a second-time semifinalist in Kazakhstan, next (he reached the final in Astana in 2021).
A day after stunning last year’s runner-up Gabriel Diallo in the second round, seed-slaying Duckworth knocked off third-seeded Flavio Cobolli, 6-3, 6-2, to book his third career ATP semifinal, and first in four years.
The 33-year-old qualifier was effective from start to finish as he earned his eighth career Top 30 win and broke an eight-match quarterfinal losing streak. He won 63 percent of his second-serve return points and converted all five break points that he saw in the 91-minute contest.
«I think I returned really well today, that was the biggest key,» said Duckworth. «Really happy with that aspect.»
Duckworth improves to 7-3 lifetime at the event. He lost his only previous meeting with Medvedev, in Canada in 2021.
«Just trying to play aggressive tennis, trying to stick to my game style,» he said. «I’ve been working really hard over the last few weeks and the results haven’t gone my way in the last six weeks or so, and it’s starting to pay off now.»
In the final match of the day session, sixth-seeded Alex Michelsen took all the punches that Japan’s Shintaro Mochizuki could throw, and countered with a few haymakers of his own to earn a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory in two hours and four minutes.
21-year-old Michelsen looked to be in serious trouble in the third set, down by a break at 2-1. But he dug deep and took the play to Mochizuki, racing away with the final five games as the world No.102 began to show his fatigue.
«I thought he was playing unbelievable for a little stretch there,» Michelsen said. «I wasn’t serving great but when I fixed that I felt like my service games got a lot easier. He was playing unbelievable so I was just competing as hard as I could and waiting for [his level to] drop.»
Michelsen entered Almaty on a five-match losing streak, and is thrilled to have turned his season around on his debut in Kazakhstan. He reached his seventh career semifinal and third of 2025.
«It’s really meaningful,» he said. «It’s been a tough stretch over the last couple of months so to be able to get back to the semifinals of a tournament is a good feeling.»
Michelsen will face Corentin Moutet in Saturday’s second semifinal.
The Frenchman has progressed to the semifinals without dropping a set, and he had to work extremely hard to keep it that way against Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff in the night session on Friday.
Moutet saved 15 of 18 break points against Struff, and rallied from a break down in the second set to notch his 29th victory of 2025, 6-4, 7-5.
«I’ve had very tough matches,» Moutet said of his run to the semis. «He had 18 break points, it’s always such a huge challenge to play against [Jan-Lennard], he has one of the best attitudes on tour and he’s very impressive.»
Moutet saved four break points while serving at 0-3 in the second set, then another four while serving at 2-3. He saved two more to hold for 4-all and used his momentum to charge through the final three games.
Delivering in the clutch has been a theme for Moutet this week. He saved five set points in the second set of his first-round match against Bernard Tomic, and rallied from 4-1 double-break down in the first set of his second-round match with Alexander Shevchenko.
Moutet and Michelsen have split their two ATP meetings, with Moutet winning an additional match with the American at Monte-Carlo qualifying.
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14.11.2025
KTF press-service
