Daniil Medvedev kept his title defence alive at the Almaty Open, breezing past Sho Shimabukuro into the quarter-finals.

Medvedev needed just 52 minutes to earn his 6-2 6-1 victory as he continues to target a deep run that will help his bid to reach the ATP Finals.

The Russian opened the match with a break – on his third attempt – and remained in relative control until the sixth game when he had to fend off three break points.

He held his serve, though, and then earned another break immediately after as he rounded off the first set with a three-game winning streak.

Shimabukuro made a better start to the second with a hold but failed to get on the board again as Medvedev cruised over the finish line by reeling off six straight games.

He will face Terence Atmane in the quarters, after the Frenchman edged past Mattia Bellucci in three sets, all of which ended in tie-breaks.

Taking care of business. Defending champion @DaniilMedwed is up and running in Almaty. @AlmatyOpen_KZ | #AlmatyOpen https://t.co/IWJT1JGQus

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 22, 2026

But Karen Khachanov had an equally tough route to the last eight as he saved five match points to beat Tomas Machac 6-2 4-6 7-6 (9-7).

He saved four of those on serve at 5-6 and then another at 6-7 in the breaker before winning the final three points to advance after a marathon two-hour-and-32-minute contest.

Medvedev finds his groove

Medvedev is currently ranked sixth in the race for a place at the ATP Finals, but things are very tight between the players in fifth to tenth, so he knows how important a deep run is here.

Should he retain his title in Almaty, he will claim his fourth trophy of 2026, having already triumphed in Brisbane, Dubai and Hangzhou this year.

The top seed struck 20 winners in a confident performance and committed just nine unforced errors, with Shimabukuro struggling to make his mark on the tie.

Should he win the title, Medvedev would gain some breathing space over Frances Tiafoe in the race to Turin, but he will also have his eyes on Flavio Cobolli's run in Lyon, with the Italian currently only 70 points ahead of him.