On Friday, Daniil Medvedev upset Ilya Ivashka in a battle of banned Wimbledon players to advance to the semi-finals in's-Hertogenbosch and move closer to reclaiming the world number one status.
At the Wimbledon warm-up match, the top-seeded Russian defeated his 41st-ranked Belarusian opponent 7-6 (10/8), 6-4 in one hour and 51 minutes.
For the first time since March, Medvedev will reclaim the world number one ranking from Novak Djokovic on Monday.
Following the invasion of Ukraine, Medvedev and Ivaskha, as well as a slew of other Russian and Belarusian players, were barred from competing at Wimbledon.
“I don’t have many points to defend on grass and I have some to win, so hopefully I can play well, starting here,” said Medvedev.
“Every round is points and the higher you get, the more you need to step up.”
Medvedev will face France's Adrian Mannarino in the semi-finals on Saturday. Mannarino won the most recent edition of the event in the Netherlands in 2019.
In his quarter-final, Mannarino defeated Brandon Nakashima of the United States 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-4.