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| - Daniil Medvedev shocked Novak Djokovic in straight sets to book a place in the last four at the ATP Finals on Wednesday as former champion Alexander Zverev got his campaign up and running. The Russian fourth seed went toe to toe with the world number one, coming out on top 6-3, 6-3 in an absorbing, energy-sapping contest at an empty O2 Arena. Earlier, German fifth seed Zverev beat Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, bouncing back from defeat in his opening Group Tokyo 1970 match at the hands of Medvedev. Top seed Djokovic is seeking to match the record of six-time winner Roger Federer, who is absent from the season-ending tournament with an injury. Medvedev, who won the Paris Masters last week, refused to allow Djokovic to dictate, earning a clutch of break points and eventually making one count in the seventh game, which lasted 11 gruelling minutes. The Russian held serve easily in the next game and seized the opening set 6-3 when a rattled Djokovic double-faulted. An increasingly confident Medvedev, 24, won the first service game of the second set to love in just 60 seconds. Djokovic was broken again in the next game to give the Russian his sixth game in a row as he maintained an incredibly high level of tennis in the round-robin match. Medvedev survived a mini-wobble and Djokovic stopped the rot on his serve but the Russian kept his nerve to see out the match. The victory takes him through to the semi-finals but five-time winner Djokovic still has a chance to progress in a shootout with Zverev on Friday. Zverev, the 2018 champion, looked out of sorts in his straight-sets defeat against Medvedev on Monday and again struggled to find early rhythm in the early match in London. The big-serving German was broken by Schwartzman in the third game but turned the tables with two breaks of his own to take the set. Zverev who stands 28 centimetres (11 inches) taller than Schwartzman, appeared to be in control in the second set but stumbled twice on serve as his 28-year-old opponent levelled the match. The momentum appeared to be with the Argentine but the match changed direction again in the fifth game of the decider when Zverev broke with a fine backhand volley. Schwartzman saved two break points in the seventh game but by now the fifth seed was in the groove and he broke again to seal the win. "It was much better than on Monday," said Zverev. "Diego is a very difficult player, he deserves to be here. There's no easy matches but I'm happy to get the win, I'm happy to give myself a chance to go to the semi-finals. "I'm excited for Friday. Friday's going to be the most difficult match-up that you can have here, against Novak." Zverev, who has won two titles in the coronavirus-truncated 2020 season, beat Djokovic in the final in London two years ago and appeared to be on the verge of a Grand Slam breakthrough but is yet to win a major. On the eve of the tournament he opened up about domestic assault allegations, which he denies, but he came to London in good form after reaching the final in Paris. Dominic Thiem is in charge of Group London 2020 after beating second seed Rafael Nadal on Tuesday to make it two wins out of two. The O2 Arena is hosting the ATP Finals for the 12th and final season before championships move to Turin next year. jw/dj
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