Sawt Falasteen - Medvedev returns to final four in Cincinnati, Rybakina out

The 2019 tournament winner strengthened his grip on the world number one ranking at the last major tune-up prior to the US Open, earning the victory in one hour, 40 minutes.

"With Cincinnati's fast court, there are always tricky matches," Medvedev said. "I knew it would be a tight match."

The opening set took just more than an hour to complete while the second was done in about half the time.

Medvedev saved all six break points he faced while breaking his opponent only once.

"In the first set, he got on top of me a little bit. He had many more chances. But I managed to stay in it, win the tiebreak and that helped me win the match."

Medvedev is into his first Masters 1000 semi-final of the season, and his first since Paris Bercy last November.

Fritz now stands 0-6 in his career against number one players, with five of his defeats coming against Novak Djokovic.

In the women's quarter-finals, Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina saved three match points before falling 6-2, 6-4 to Madison Keys..

The Kazakh, who lifted the All England Club trophy last month against the odds, exited the pre-US Open event in 92 minutes as she went down to the American titleholder from 2019.

The pair struggled through a 21-point, 12-minute opening game, with Keys then turning on her jets to win the second in seconds.

Keys also came from a break down in the second set to carve out victory.

Rybakina, who stands 4-3 since Wimbledon, was broken five times and managed only 11 winners. Keys struck 21 winners and 16 unforced errors.

"Elena is a remarkable player who can turn a match around at any moment," unseeded Keys said. "I needed to stay out front.

"It felt like I needed 12 match points, so I'm very happy to get the win. If you back off against her, she will run you around.

"It's never good if she is in control, I had to take advantage of any ball I could."

Keys followed up on her Thursday ouster of world number one Iga Swiatek and next plays Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion who defeated Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic 6-2, 6-3.

"I have obviously had some battles against Petra. Won some, lost some," Keys said of the Czech, with whom she has split eight matches. "It's never easy to play her, especially later in a draw, meaning that she's playing some very good tennis."

B.AbuZeid--SF-PST