SHANGHAI:
Daniil Medvedev eased past world number seven Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 on Friday to secure the last place in the Shanghai Masters semi-finals and a date with unseeded Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech.
Rinderknech claimed the scalp of yet another seed in Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime, 6-3, 6-4, to join his cousin Valentin Vacherot and four-time Shanghai champion Novak Djokovic in the last four.
, a former world number one who has slipped down the rankings to 18th, said he was "super happy to beat such a tough player like Alex".
"It's been a tough year for me so to make the semis here is great," the Russian added.
Medvedev broke in the fifth game and then managed to hold despite a wobbly 10th in which he had to save a breakpoint and committed three double-faults.
De Minaur had hi