DUBAI, February 29. /TASS/. Russia’s top tennis player Daniil Medvedev surged past Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina into the semifinals of the 2024 ATP (the Association of Tennis Professionals) Dubai Open Tennis tournament.

Defending champion Medvedev (the top seed) recorded a 6-2, 6-3 win over Davidovich Fokina (the No. 8 seed). In the semifinals, the Russian will face the winner of another quarterfinal: either Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz or France’s Ugo Humbert. In the other semifinal, Russia’s Andrey Rublev (the second seed at the tournament) will play Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik. Both semifinals are scheduled for Friday.

Medvedev is the reigning champion of the Dubai Championships. Last year, he defeated Rublev in the final. The 2024 ATP Dubai Open is the first championship where Medvedev is competing after his Australian Open 2024 final defeat on January 28. In February, the Russian tennis player pulled out of the Rotterdam and Doha events.

Medvedev, 28, is currently fourth in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Rankings. In 2022, the top Russian racket spent sixteen weeks as the number one player in the world. He is the 2021 US Open Champion and has 20 ATP tournament titles under his belt. He won five of these 20 titles in 2023. Also, in 2021, he won the Davis Cup as well as the ATP Cup playing for the Russian national team.

The 2024 Dubai Open Tennis tournament is an ATP 500 competition on the organization’s calendar and takes place at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre in Dubai between February 26 and March 2. The tournament is played on outdoor hard courts and offers over $2.9 million in prize money. Besides Medvedev, Russia’s Andrey Rublev and Aslan Karatsev won the tournament in 2022 and 2021 respectively.