After victories against two top 10 players, Daniil Medvedev stopped Yannick Hanfmann’s run. The number three in the world gave the German tennis player no chance in the quarter-finals in Rome at 2: 6 and 2: 6. For the qualifier Hanfmann, entering the top eight was the greatest success of his career.
Hanfmann was comforted by the prize money of 161,525 euros and a huge leap in the world rankings over the clear defeat. On Monday (June 22, 2023), the man from Karlsruhe climbed to at least 65th place in the ranking, making him the third-best German behind the new number one Jan-Lennard Struff and Alexander Zverev. His best placement so far was 92nd. Olympic champion Zverev had previously also lost to Medvedev and is still looking for his top form before the French Open in Paris (from May 28).
Medvedev is now also a top player on clay
Medvedev, who has already won the tournament four times this year, is becoming one of the favorites for the title at the French Open on the actually unloved sand. Hanfmann was not a big challenge for the Russian, although the German had already beaten two top 10 players in the course of the tournament, the American Taylor Fritz and the Russian Andrei Rublev. He had only achieved such a prestigious success once before: in Hamburg in 2021 against the Frenchman Gael Monfils.