Daniil Medvedev admitted he was ‘happy about himself’ after upsetting the French crowd with a straight sets victory over Hugo Gaston.
The Russian had to compete with the talented and unorthodox Frenchman as well as a vocal Parisian crowd on Friday, though came through the contest 7-6(9), 6-4 in one hour and 47 minutes.
The world number two looked set to lose the first set trailing 5-4 40-0, though somehow found a way to take the set on a tense tie-break.
The second set was far more straight forward for Medvedev who quickly raced into a 4-0 lead with Gaston evidently unravelling after the disappointment of the opening set.
Following the contest, Medvedev admitted he was extremely pleased to come through the match against a difficult opponent and a hostile crowd to reach the semi-final stage.
“When [the atmosphere] is against you, you need to face it,” Medvedev said.
“You need to try to win no matter what. Even when it is against me, I think, ‘Well, I will try to beat my opponent and the crowd’ because there is no other choice.
“I am kind of happy about myself, but it was definitely a high-level match.”
Medvedev will now face Alexander Zverev in a repeat of the Paris Masters final after the second seed brushed aside Norwegian star Casper Ruud 7-5, 6-4.
12 months ago, the Russian star dispatched the German in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 to lift the ATP Finals trophy and will hope to move one step closer to his title defence this time around.
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