Daniil Medvedev beats Ilya Ivashka in battle of the banned

Daniil Medvedev defeated Ilya Ivashka in a battle of banned Wimbledon players on Friday to reach the 's-Hertogenbosch semi-finals and move closer to regaining the world top ranking. The top-seeded Russian downed his 41st-ranked Belarusian rival 7-6 (10/8), 6-4 in one hour and 51 minutes at the Wimbledon warm-up event.

Medvedev will reclaim the world number one ranking from Novak Djokovic on Monday for the first time since March. Medvedev and Ivaskha, as well as a host of other Russian and Belarusian players, have been banned from Wimbledon following the invasion of Ukraine.

"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." In Saturday's semi-final, Medvedev will take on France's Adrian Mannarino who won the most recent edition of the event in the Netherlands in 2019.

Mannarino saw off Brandon Nakashima of the United States 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-4 in his quarter-final.