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SHANGHAI: Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday got his revenge against US teenager Learner Tien, beating him in a nail-biter 7-6 (8/6), 6-7 (1/7), 6-4 to proceed to the Shanghai Masters quarterfinals.

There he will meet world No. 7 Alex de Minaur, who cruised past Portugal’s Nuno Borges 7-5, 6-2 earlier in the day.

Victory in Shanghai comes just over a week after the 36th-ranked Tien took the Russian out of the China Open semifinals in Beijing.

“He’s an unbelievable tennis player,” Medvedev said of the 19-year-old. “Outside of the big three, he may be the toughest opponent I’ve ever faced.”

Medvedev broke first in the ninth game, but Tien returned the favor immediately.

The last two games of the first set saw the two players locked in an epic back-and-forth, their prolonged rallies thrilling the crowd.

Both faced breakpoint but managed to hold, with Medvedev smashing a looping lob from Tien to send them to a gripping tiebreak.

Medvedev broke early in the second set, but Tien was again unphased — breaking back in the fifth and then seventh games, before the former world number one leveled in the 10th.

Medvedev began limping just before the second-set tiebreak and spoke briefly with a medic before hobbling back onto court.

Tien went 3-0 up as the Russian, ten years his senior, tried to stretch out on court, becoming increasingly irate as the match was pushed to a decider.

“I should be more calm, but Learner drives me nuts... I lost two very traumatic matches against him — so for sure I was scared to lose again,” he said.

But a scrappy third set — full of double-faults from both players — was settled when Medvedev broke in the ninth game with a backhand.

‘Going to be a battle’

The Russian said he would need to rest his legs in anticipation of a similarly tough challenge against De Minaur on Friday, smiling wryly: “We’re gonna run again.”

After Novak Djokovic, the Australian is the highest ranked player left standing after a string of high-profile exits.

De Minaur needed five break points in the 11th game against Borges in the first set, converting the last with a backhand for a decisive advantage.

He carried the momentum into the second set, breaking in the first and third games.

But he remained cautious about his title chances.

“In our side of the draw, there’s a lot of quality players, so it’s still going to be a battle,” he said.

Another top-10 player fell on Wednesday as Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti lost to Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 6-2.

Thirteenth-ranked Auger-Aliassime looked sharp throughout, breaking in the fifth game.

He went on to dominate the second set, breaking Musetti, the world number nine, in the fifth and seventh games.

“I knew it was going to be the toughest match of the week so far, and I knew I was going to have to raise my level, and I did,” said the 25-year-old Canadian.

He will next meet France’s Arthur Rinderknech, who reached his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal after beating Czech Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).

Rinderknech’s cousin Valentin Vacherot made it to the last eight on Tuesday, and will face Denmark’s Holger Rune for a place in the semifinals.

Djokovic will follow them on to court on Thursday against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs for a place in the last four.
 

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations will cut a quarter of peacekeepers in 11 operations around the world in the coming months due to a lack of money, senior UN officials said on Wednesday, and as future funding from the United States remains uncertain.
“Overall, we will have to repatriate... around 25 percent of our total peacekeeping troops and police, as well as their equipment, and a large number of civilian staff in missions will also be affected,” said a senior UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
That would amount to between 13,000 and 14,000 troops and police, the official said.
Washington is the UN’s largest peacekeeping contributor, accounting for more than 26 percent of funding, followed by China which pays nearly 24 percent. These payments are not voluntary.
The US was already $1.5 billion in arrears before the new financial year began on July 1, said a second UN official. Washington now also owes an additional $1.3 billion, taking its total outstanding bill to more than $2.8 billion.
The US has told the UN it will make a payment shortly of $680 million, the first UN official said. The US mission to the UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
US President Donald Trump in August unilaterally canceled some $800 million in peacekeeping funding appropriated for 2024 and 2025, according to a Trump administration message to Congress.

Trump has long claimed that international institutions have taken advantage of the United States and has overseen massive cuts to US foreign aid since his return to the White House in January.
The White House budget office has also proposed eliminating funding for UN peacekeeping missions in 2026, citing failures of operations in Mali, Lebanon and Democratic Republic of Congo.
The UN has peacekeeping operations in the Middle East, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lebanon, Kosovo, Cyprus, Central African Republic, Western Sahara, the Golan Heights demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria, Abyei — an administrative area jointly run by South Sudan and Sudan — and on a ceasefire line dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is also more broadly seeking ways to improve efficiency and cut costs as the world body turns 80 this year amid a cash crisis.

The announcement “potentially means a significant reduction in protection for things like humanitarian convoys and the civilians who rely on aid,” Louis Charbonneau of Human Rights Watch told AFP.
“We hope the UN will prioritize lifesaving humanitarian and human rights activities,” he added.
Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group said the cuts’ impact on the ground “will vary case by case.”
“In somewhere like South Sudan, where peacekeepers offer many civilians a little protection and there was nearly a new war this year, cutting back peacekeepers sends a very bad signal.”