Italian Open: Defending champion Daniil Medvedev crashes out to Tommy Paul

Italian Open: Defending champion Daniil Medvedev crashes out to Tommy Paul

World number four Daniil Medvedev saw his title defence at the Italian Open ended by American Tommy Paul.

Paul, the world number 16, did not look back after breaking Medvedev in his first three service games to prevail 6-1 6-4 in one hour and 13 minutes and reach the quarter-finals of the clay-court event.

Medvedev's defeat left third seed Alexander Zverev, number five in the world, as the highest-ranked player left in the event. The German beat Nuno Borges 6-2 7-5.

Meanwhile, Alejandro Tabilo, the surprise conqueror of Novak Djokovic, continued his fine run with a 7-6 (5) 7-6 (10) win over 16th seed Karen Khachanov.

The Chilean will now play China's rising star Zhang Zhizhen, who saw off Thiago Monteiro 7-6 (4) 6-3.

Sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas eased into the last eight with a 6-1 6-2 victory over Alex de Minaur.

Taylor Fritz beat Grigor Dimitrov 6-2 7-6 (11) 6-1 while Poland™s Hubert Hurkacz and Nicolas Jarry, another Chilean, also went through.

In the women's event, world number one Iga Swiatek, bidding to win the tournament for a third time in four years, comfortably beat Madison Keys 6-1 6-3 to reach the last four.

The Pole will face third seed Coco Gauff in the semi-finals after the American overcame Zheng Qinwen 7-6 6-1.

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