Bellucci had never beaten a Top 10 player in his professional career after only meeting Alexander Zverev in the round-of-64 of the 2024 Shanghai Masters. The Italian qualifier reached the second round after beating 17-year-old Mees Rottgering from the Netherlands on the latter's ATP debut.
Hopeful Bellucci enjoyed a bright start against Medvedev, saving a break point in the very first game and keeping Medvedev at arm's length after. A crucial break in the eighth game got Bellucci in prime position to clinch the set - something the Italian did first time of asking.
A marathon second set would commence soon and saw Medvedev go 4-1 up after erasing a break point from Bellucci in the third game and breaking his Italian opponent right after. A fierce fight for the second set went all the way down to a tiebreak in which the two would break each other's serve in six of the first ten games.
Bellucci got the opportunity to ice the game after the Italian got to match point but conceded three straight points before seeing his Russian opponent tie things up.
A deciding third set would be necessary for the second game running in Rotterdam - Tallon Griekspoor beat Matteo Berrettini in the final game of the afternoon session after a match with two tiebreaks - and saw Bellucci fight for his life as the Italian saved six break points in the opening three games. An underhand serve surprised Medvedev in the third game and put Bellucci in position to clinch the game with a perfect lob whilst sending Medvedev the wrong way entirely.
With the match approaching the three-hour mark, Bellucci made the difference by breaking Medvedev a third time in order to go up 5-3. The 23-year-old from Southern Lombardy then finished the game with a stylish love game, securing him the first ATP-500 quarter-final seed of his professional career.
View all the match statistics on Flashscore.
