The lanky Russian defeated Rublev in a hard-hitting two and a half hour encounter, which featured just one break of serve. However, Medvedev's consistency and precision allowed him to earn the victory over his good friend.

“It was tough at the end,” said Medvedev. “Maybe the first time in almost a year I celebrated my win because it was very tough at the end. I felt like I could get in trouble, so I was really happy to get the win in the tie-break. One point decided two sets, so it was a really tough match.”

Medvedev was impressive on serve, winning 89% of points on his first serve. The margin of victory was miniscule, as Rublev actually lead 5-1 in the first set tiebreak before the World No.5 mounted a comeback.

“In these moments… you feel like you have to fight for every point,” said Medvedev. “At the same time you are like, ‘Okay, I probably lost the set.’ There is more chance of you losing the set from 1/5 than winning it. It was 3/6 on my serve, so I was going for the second serve… On 5/6, I decided not to go for it and he went just a little bit out. I think it was a very tactical game today and I am really happy to go through.”

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