"I never cut myself with a knife even like this" - Daniil Medvedev sheds light on thumb injury ahead of Indian Wells SF against Frances Tiafoe

Daniil Medvedev shook off injury concerns to book his place in the semifinals of the 2023 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. He extended his winning streak to 18 matches when he beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 7-5 on Wednesday (March 15).

Medvedev came into the match with many doubting his mobility after he picked up an ankle injury during his 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 7-5 fourth-round defeat of Alexander Zverev.

The Russian, speaking after his quarterfinal win, confirmed that the ankle injury did not trouble him as much as he expected, though he did feel some pain in his pre-match warmup.

"I'm actually happy the ankle didn't hurt much because when I warmed up, it was hurting pretty bad. I knew I was going to play, I knew I was going to try. But I couldn't move well on the warm-up. I tried to warm it up as long as possible, took one painkiller so that probably helped. I was actually feeling better and better during the match," he told ATP.

"The match was absolutely crazy. I could talk about this for 15 minutes, but just really happy to go through such a tough match with such tough conditions with the wind," he added.

Daniil Medvedev, however, suffered fresh injury concerns when he had another fall in his match against Davidovich Fokina. It required treatment on a bloody right thumb, though he managed to navigate the issue safely and finish the contest in straight sets.

Speaking about his thumb injury, the World No. 6 said:

"I absolutely cut it open. It was like fully open. I never cut myself with a knife even like this because I don't cook much."

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Frances Tiafoe stands between Daniil Medvedev and a place in 2023 Indian Wells Masters final

Following his quarterfinal win against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Daniil Medvedev will take on Frances Tiafoe for a place in the 2023 BNP Paribas Open final. Tiafoe booked his place in the last four thanks to a 6-4, 6-4 win against Cameron Norrie.

Medvedev has the upper hand over Tiafoe on the ATP tour, with a 4-0 head-to-head record against the American. That said, the Russian knows that he'll have to be at his very best to get past the home favorite.

"He's playing great. Frances is a very pumped-up, fiery player, so he can beat anyone on a good day. I'm sure he can beat Novak, Rafa. He actually did beat Rafa in the US Open, which is huge. For sure I need to try my best to keep this head-to-head at zero. That's never easy and I just have to show my best tennis and try to beat such a great opponent," Medvedev said.