Fourth-seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia will take on seventh-seed Holger Rune of Denmark in the Indian Wells Masters quarter-finals tonight. 

This will be the pair's first meeting since the Rome Masters final last season, when Daniil Medvedev claimed a 7-5, 7-5 win to clinch his first title on clay. And even more remarkably, he did it at a Masters 1000 event. 

Rune had beat Medvedev only a few weeks earlier when the Dane earned a 6-3, 6-4 victory in the quarter-finals of the Monte-Carlo Masters - en route to his first Masters 1000 final on clay courts, where he lost (7-5, 2-6, 5-7) to another Russian in Andrey Rublev.

The winner of this match will face either 17^th-seed Tommy Paul of the United States or 9^th-seed Casper Ruud of Norway in the semi-finals. 

Having won all hard-court ATP Masters 1000 tournaments except for the Indian Wells Masters, where his best result is a final appearance last season, Daniil Medvedev is bidding to become the tournament’s sixth successive first-time champion.

The 28-year-old Russian moved one step closer to his first title of the year and maiden Indian Wells Masters crown on Friday, when he cruised past Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-4, and booked his place in the quarter-finals.

The Australian Open runner-up was dominant on serve, dropping just five points behind his first delivery (26/31) and committed only 13 unforced errors throughout the match. 

Daniil Medvedev created multiple break chances by varying his return position. Still, he earned his first break in the fifth game of the first set after Dimitrov double-faulted down break point, probably feeling the pressure of his opponent, who was inside the baseline.

For the 75 minutes he spent on court against Dimitrov, Medvedev once again displayed top-tier shotmaking, finding winners from any position to improve to 7-3 in his head-to-head series with the Bulgarian, who already stunned Medvedev in Indian Wells three years ago and also won their previous meeting at the Paris Masters in November.

To be fair, Medvedev appeared lackluster in his earlier matches at the Indian Wells Masters. However, the experienced Russian managed to elevate his game in an important moment, when he faced a tougher challenge against the in-form Dimitrov. 

Compared to losing on his serve seven times against USA's Sebastian Korda in the third round, Medvedev faced only two breakpoints in the entire match against Grigor Dimitrov.

Holger Rune of Denmark ended Taylor Fritz's unbeaten form in the United States this year when the 20-year-old Danish player achieved his biggest win of the season. For now. He'll surely be hungry for more. 

Rune stopped the dangerous-looking Taylor Fritz in three challenging sets to reach the quarterfinals at Indian Wells Masters for the first time in four attempts. 

The Dane overcame a set deficit and saved a crucial break point early in the second set, as well as a match point later on to eventually complete an impressive comeback in two hours and 20 minutes against the top-ranked American, who won the title in 2022. 

Holger Rune previously defeated world #26 Lorenzo Musetti and former champion Taylor Fritz, and the Dane will fight tooth and nail to achieve another big win in 2024.

Despite being arguably the most consistent performer on North American hard courts over the past couple of years, the former US Open champion faced constant struggles at the Indian Wells Masters until last year. 

Rune, on the other hand, boasts a great record in the quarterfinals of Masters 1000 competitions, despite facing top-tier opponents on each occasion. The young Dane is 3-1 at this stage, having beaten the likes of Daniil Medvedev himself, Carlos Alcaraz (at the Paris Masters in 2022), and Novak Djokovic (at the Italian Open last year), with the only defeat coming against Djokovic in three sets at the Paris Masters last November.

Their first meeting on hard courts adds an element of unpredictability to the match.Yet, we believe that we should witness a tight contest between Medvedev and Rune.