BEIJING, September 29. /TASS/. Russia’s Daniil Medvedev advanced to the semifinals of the 2025 China Open in Beijing with a confident straight-sets win on Monday.

The 8th-seeded Russian, playing under a neutral status at the tournament, breezed past Alexander Zverev from Germany 6-3; 6-3.

"It's great, but I always want more," Medvedev told the ATP press office after the match against Zverev when asked to comment on reaching the 60th tour-level semifinal of his career. "In the beginning of your career, numbers are important."

"When you achieve a lot, it's more about just doing your best, and I haven't been doing my best since some time, so I'm happy to be back in semis playing great, beating great opponents," the Russian tennis player continued.

Speaking about today’s match against Zverev, who is currently 3rd in the ATP World Rankings list, Medvedev said: "I played great, I was controlling the game pretty well."

"I felt like I had all the chances. He had only, I think, one game on my serve where he put a lot of pressure on me and luckily I made a great game to save it. And other than that, I think I put a lot of pressure on him, played great and I'm happy to win," the Russian noted.

"I definitely played as I wanted to today, not missing much, aggressive when I need to, defensive when I need to, running great. So definitely improving and looking forward to try to improve even more," Medvedev added.

In the next round, Medvedev will play against unseeded Learner Tien from the United States, who outplayed Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti 4-6; 6-3; 3-0 (retired) earlier in the day.

Russia’s Medvedev, 29, spent sixteen weeks as the world’s number one in 2022. Currently, he’s the 18th-ranked player in the world. He previously won the 2021 US Open and is a 20-time ATP champion. He won five of those 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 2025 China Open is an ATP 500 professional tennis tournament. Played on outdoor hard courts at the National Tennis Center in Beijing between September 25 and October 1, this year’s tourney offers over $4 million in prize money. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz is the tournament’s reigning champion.

Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

Following the IOC's recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations moved to exclude athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022, to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also canceling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.

On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from participating in the 2022 Davis Cup and the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.