I have to learn from the best, says Medvedev

ACAPULCO (Mexico) • Russia's Daniil Medvedev will become the first man since 2004 outside tennis' "Big Four" of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray to occupy the top spot in the world rankings.

He celebrated his rise to world No. 1 for the first time with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Yoshihito Nishioka in the quarter-finals of the ATP Mexican Open on Thursday.

The 26-year-old rode a roller-coaster of emotions after learning that he would take over the top spot thanks to Djokovic's quarter-final defeat in Dubai hours earlier.

But he got the job done against his Japanese opponent and booked a semi-final showdown today with Nadal in a rematch of the Australian Open final, which the Spaniard won last month for his record 21st Grand Slam title.

"It's not easy actually to play a match when you get this (news) during the day," Medvedev said of keeping his focus after learning he will officially supplant Djokovic atop the rankings on Monday after the Serb's record 361-week stay.

Until the 20-time Grand Slam winner's upset in Dubai, US Open champion Medvedev would have had to win the Acapulco title to claim top-dog status.

"To be honest, I saw that he was losing, but I didn't know that if he loses, I'm going to become No. 1," he added. "I thought that I had to do something big here. So then when I was receiving all the messages, well, I understood, OK, it's gonna happen.

"The first goal for me was to still win today, because I'm here to try to win every match I play. But it's definitely some great news."

Medvedev will be the third Russian man after Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin to ascend to the summit.

Despite the distractions of the day, the Russian needed just 70 minutes to dispatch Nishioka, giving him ample time and rest to try to get one over Nadal, whom he will meet in the last four at noon today, Singapore time.

On the Spaniard, Medvedev, who trails 4-1 in their head-to-head meetings, said: "It's always special to play against him. Kind of a chance to get my revenge.

"I have to learn from the best, which is him, Roger, Novak, Andy. Always when they were losing a tough fight, they were trying to get their revenge. Sometimes, they managed to do it, sometimes, not. That's what I'm going to try to do if I play Rafa."

But Nadal is equally on form after improving his career-best start to a season to 13-0 with a 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) victory over American Tommy Paul.

"I think I played one of the best sets since a long time ago," the 35-year-old said of the first frame.

"I played fantastic in the first set. In the beginning of the second, I made a couple of mistakes, and then he started playing better and better. The set became a little bit crazy with a lot of breaks."

In other quarter-final action, third-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece beat American Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-4 to set up a meeting with sixth-seeded Briton Cameron Norrie, who sailed past Germany's Peter Gojowczyk 6-1, 6-0.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE