(VIDEO) Daniil Medvedev's "dark horse" idea comes true after Roman Safiullin's win over Carlos Alcaraz at Paris Masters

A video from a few months ago by the ATP showed Daniil Medvedev predicting that Roman Safiulin, who recently defeated Carlos Alcaraz at Paris Masters, would be the "dark horse" of the season.

Daniil Medvedev suffered an early exit from the Paris Masters after being defeated by Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(2). The Russian tennis player was surprised in the tournament's second round and only has the ATP Finals left to play, where he is the third seed, behind only Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.

Precisely, the young Spanish player was also surprisingly eliminated in the second round of Paris, facing the Russian world No. 45, Roman Safiullin, who came from the qualifiers and won 6-3, 6-4 in a great display of tennis by the Russian. This defeat practically ended Alcaraz's hopes of finishing the year as the world No. 1.

In an interview with the ATP at the beginning of the year, Medvedev had already commented on the high level Safiullin can achieve and pointed to him as the "dark horse" of the season.

Safiullin has been one of the surprises of the season, despite his ranking not indicating so for a significant part of the year. Just six months ago, he was outside the top 100, and his good results have now placed him inside the top 50. Following his performance in Paris, he could secure a spot in the top 40.

Safiullin has achieved significant victories, including wins over Nicolas Jarry, Tommy Paul, and Sebastian Korda during the clay season. He was also one of the surprises at Wimbledon, where he reached the quarterfinals before losing to the Italian Jannik Sinner.

In recent months, he has added wins over Dan Evans, Lorenzo Musetti, Alexander Zverev, and Andy Murray to his resume, in addition to his career-best victory over Carlos Alcaraz.

In the third round, Safiullin will face his compatriot and 16th seed, Karen Khachanov. The two Russians met for the first time in their careers last week in the first round of the Vienna Open, with Khachanov winning 6-4, 6-4.