Defending champion Daniil Medvedev made a fast start to his Almaty Open title defence on Thursday, 22 October, beating Japan's Sho Shimabukuro 6-2 6-1 in 52 minutes. On the same day Karen Khachanov saved five match points to beat Tomas Machac and set up a quarter-final against Alexander Bublik.
Medvedev in a hurry
Medvedev won the title here a year ago, beating Corentin Moutet in the final, and he arrived as the only top-10 player in the draw. The top seed, who arrived in Kazakhstan tired after his run to the Shanghai semi-finals, hit seven aces, broke serve five times and did not lose a service game, TASS and The Sports Encounter reported. He plays Frenchman Terence Atmane in the quarter-finals on Friday; Atmane reached the last eight by beating Mattia Bellucci 6-7(4) 7-6(2) 7-6(5) in three tie-breaks.
Afterwards Medvedev was asked about the two players who have dominated the season. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are, "in a good way, freaks", he said, according to Tennis Majors, "much stronger than the rest of the field during the whole season, if they're not injured, of course".
Turin in sight
Almaty matters for Medvedev's place at the ATP Finals. He is sixth in the Race to Turin, 590 points ahead of Alex de Minaur, who is tenth and the first player outside the qualifying places, Tennis Majors noted. That is why he chose to play this week despite feeling tired: skipping Almaty "would have made absolutely no sense", he said on arrival, according to Tennis Majors.
Khachanov survives
Fifth seed Khachanov beat Machac 6-2 4-6 7-6(7) in two hours and 32 minutes. He saved four match points serving at 5-6 in the third set and a fifth in the tie-break, which he won 9-7, according to Tennis Majors and TASS. He hit 14 aces and won 76% of his first-serve points. Machac, he said, "pushed me to the limits".
It is Khachanov's 70th tour-level quarter-final and his first indoors since Paris 2024; he has won 11 of his 14 matches since early September. Next comes a meeting with third seed Bublik, the home favourite, in front of what promises to be a full Almaty Arena.
Friday's quarter-finals
The last eight also include Stefanos Tsitsipas against James Duckworth, after the Greek ended Mikhail Kukushkin's career on Wednesday. Follow the results on our live tennis scores page, and see the Race to Turin guide for who is already through.
Sources
This article was written by TiebreakNews from the reporting below, checked against official results and rankings.
- Tennis Majors — 'In a good way, freaks': Medvedev on Sinner and Alcaraz after cruising into Almaty quarterfinals
- Tennis Majors — Khachanov saves five match points to beat Machac and reach Almaty quarterfinals
- TASS — Russia's Khachanov advances to quarterfinals at 2026 Almaty Open tennis tournament
- The Sports Encounter — Medvedev needs just 52 minutes to warn Almaty rivals
- Ubitennis — Daniil Medvedev praises Zverev's charge to year-end No. 1 as he eyes ATP Finals spot