Cameron Norrie booked his spot in the quarter-finals of the Rio Open on Wednesday evening, but Liam Broady's run in Qatar came to an end at the hands of Daniil Medvedev.
Taking on Brazilian number one Thiago Monteiro, Norrie was pushed all the way in a contest lasting two and a half hours, but he eventually came through 7-5 7-5.
Breaking Monteiro's serve straight off the bat in the opening game, Norrie held his two-game advantage until the Brazilian broke back in the sixth game to level the contest at 3-3.
The Briton then squandered a 40-0 lead on Monteiro's serve in the seventh game and missed a fourth break point before going 4-3 down, and despite breaking in the ninth game, Monteiro would immediately respond while Norrie was serving for the first set.
Norrie was not to be denied, though, and he broke once more before coming through yet another tricky hold to take the first set, where Monteiro saved 11 of the 14 break points he faced.
As his first-serve win percentage improved significantly, Norrie went a set and a break up in the fifth game of the second set, but once again, Monteiro would break back while the Wimbledon semi-finalist was serving for the match.
In a carbon copy of the first set, Norrie would immediately respond with another break in the 11th before bringing up three match points on serve, and he converted the third to knock out the world number 83 and set up a quarter-final meeting with Bolivia's Hugo Dellien.
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Over at the Qatar Open, Broady had set his sights on joining Andy Murray in the last eight following his compatriot's stunning win over Alexander Zverev, but he was no match for Medvedev.
The world number eight took just one hour and 32 minutes to prevail 6-4 6-3, although Broady got off to a dream start, breaking Medvedev's serve in the opening game of the match before being brought crashing back down to earth.
The Russian immediately broke back and continued to threaten on Broady's serve before breaking again in the eighth, giving him the opportunity to serve out the first set.
However, untimely mistakes from Medvedev allowed Broady to break back for 4-5 and stay alive in the first set, until Medvedev converted his next break point in the 10th to gain the upper hand in the tie.
Having shaken off the cobwebs, Medvedev won far more points on his first serve in the second set, where he broke in the fourth game and kept Broady at bay for the remainder of the contest.
Medvedev will now prepare for a quarter-final clash with Australia's Christopher O'Connell, prior to which Murray will face French qualifier Alexandre Muller for a place in the last four.
Ben Knapton
