In the men’s event, Daniil Medvedev’s title defence came to an end after he fell to a 6-1 6-4 defeat by American 14th seed Tommy Paul.

The Russian’s exit means world number five Alexander Zverev, who beat Portugal’s Nuno Borges 6-2 7-5 on Thursday, is the highest-ranked player left in the draw.

World number two Jannik Sinner and third-ranked Carlos Alcaraz withdrew because of injury before the event, while top seed Novak Djokovic was knocked out by Alejandro Tabilo in the second round.

Tabilo followed up his surprise win over the Serb by upsetting Russian 16th seed Karen Khachanov.

The Chilean, ranked 32nd in the world, won 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (12-10) to reach his first ATP Masters 1,000 quarter-final.

He will play China’s Zhang Zhizhen, who defeated Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro 7-6 (7-4) 6-3.

Meanwhile, Greek sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas needed just 61 minutes to thrash Australia’s Alex de Minaur 6-1 6-2.

Tsitsipas, a finalist in Rome in 2022, has lost just two of his 15 matches on clay this season.

The Monte Carlo champion and Barcelona Open finalist will face Chile’s Nicolas Jarry, who beat Frenchman Alexandre Muller 7-5 6-3.

American Taylor Fritz overcame Bulgarian eighth seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-2 6-7 (11-13) 6-1 after letting a match point slip during a 20-minute second-set tie-break.

Fritz, the 11th seed, will now take on Zverev, while Paul’s victory over Medvedev means he will face Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in the last eight.

Hurkacz fought back from a set down to beat Sebastian Baez of Argentina 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.

Murphy, who was confirmed in the role permanently on Monday, is well aware of the challenge posed by Leinster but believes from his own experience, the European Champions Cup finalists will wary of their visit to Belfast this weekend.

“Playing Leinster is always difficult, no matter where you play them,” Murphy said.

“I’ve been in the Leinster camp coming up to Ulster many a time, and they don’t find it an easy place to come.

“If the ground can be as good as it has been in the last two home games, I think they [the crowd] can have a big part to play in the game, and us, as Ulster, need to make sure we turn up and start from minute on, and try to put them under some pressure.”

When the two sides met in Dublin on January 1, Ulster held on for a famous 22-21 win. For Saturday’s meeting, Murphy will be without five of the starters from that game at the RDS.

“We’re a little bit under pressure in terms of some of the players we’re missing but it always gives other lads an opportunity to come out and stake their claim for the jersey.

“We know that they’ve got some class players – no matter who turns up – so it’s going to be a big test for us to see where we are at.

“There are definitely certain elements of our game that we are not happy with at the moment but behind closed doors we are working really hard to try and fix that.”

England manager Sarina Wiegman discusses who she will appoint as captain after recalling World Cup skipper Millie Bright to the squad.

Bright’s return is a boost as Wiegman will be able to select her first-choice centre-back pairing – Euros-winning Leah Williamson and Bright – for the first time since February 2023.

READ MORE: England recall fit-again Bright for Euro qualifiers