Western and Southern Open 2021: No. 1 Seeds Barty, Medvedev Among Friday's Winners

Both No. 1 seeds at the Western & Southern Open moved onto the semifinals on Friday, as Ashleigh Barty and Daniil Medvedev earned straight-set quarterfinal victories in Cincinnati, Ohio.

No. 3 Alexander Zverev also got the straight-set win, taking down Casper Ruud.

Upsets did go down, though, with No. 10 Belinda Bencic notably falling in straight sets to Jil Teichmann.

No. 11 Petra Kvitova also had to retire from her match with Angelique Kerber due to a stomach issue:

Here's a look at all the results and notable occurrences on the day.

    

Women's Singles

No. 1 Ashleigh Barty def. No. 9 Barbora Krejcikova: 6-2, 6-4

No. 5 Karolina Pliskova def. Paula Badosa 7-5, 2-0 (walkover)

Jil Teichmann def. No. 10 Belinda Bencic: 6-3, 6-2 

Angelique Kerber def. No. 11 Petra Kvitova: 6-4, 3-3 (walkover)

    

Men's Singles

No. 1 Daniil Medvedev def. No. 7 Pablo Carreno Busta: 6-1, 6-1

No. 2 Stefanos Tsitsipas def. No. 12 Felix Auger Aliassime: 6-2, 5-7, 6-1

No. 3 Alexander Zverev def. No. 8 Casper Ruud: 6-1, 6-3

No. 4 Andrey Rublev def. Benoit Paire: 6-2, 3-6, 6-3

     

Recap and Highlights

Barty's serve was on point all match. She had seven aces to Krejcikova's two and won 84 percent of her first-serve points.

Still, Krejcikova fought hard until the end and was even up a break in the second set, to the point where she was serving up 4-3.

However, Barty earned three break points in that game, eventually tying the set at four. She held serve before breaking Krejcikova again to win the match.

It simply wasn't Bencic's day on Friday. The No. 10 player went 0-of-5 on break-point opportunities and served four double faults.

Teichmann was sensational, though, notably kicking it to another gear by breaking Bencic in the first game of the second set and cruising to victory from there. She won 85 percent of her points on the first serve.

Despite her illness, Kvitova had seven aces and hung tough in the first set before Kerber broke her to go up 5-4. Kerber held serve to win the set before the two battled to a three-all tie in the second. Kvitova was up 3-0 early following a break before Kerber got a break of her own to tie it up at three.

Medvedev flew through his match with Pablo Carreno Busta, winning 12 of 14 games and finishing his contest in 56 minutes. The Russian served nine aces and had a 92 percent win rate on his first serve. He won 56 of 86 points and never allowed Carreno Busta to obtain a break-point chance all match.

Alexander Zverev also didn't have much trouble with Casper Ruud, winning the first game in 25 minutes and the match in one hour and one minute. He had an 88 percent win rate on his first serve and won 5-of-7 break points.

Other top men's seeds did not have it as easy.

No. 2 Stefanos Tsitsipas and No. 4 Andrey Rublev needed three sets to dispatch Felix Auger Aliassime and Benoit Paire, respectively. Tsitsipas dominated in the sets that he won, earning 12 of 15 games. The second set went in Auger Aliassime's favor, 7-5 after the Canadian broke Tsitsipas as he served with the set tied at five.

Tsitsipas notably had a 70 percent win rate on his second serve.

Rublev coasted in the first set but lost an early break to lose the second one, 6-3.

He kept the pressure on Paire in the third set, though, earning four break points in the 22-point sixth game before falling.

Rublev held serve and got the break the second time around, though, before earning the match win.

He'll take on Medvedev in the semifinals, and Tsitsipas and Zverev will battle on the other side of the bracket.