Daniil Medvedev yesterday came out on top of a brutal all-Russian clash against Andrey Rublev to move into his first Australian Open semi-final and inch closer to a maiden Grand Slam title.
The fourth seed had more firepower than his younger, eighth-seeded rival in scorching conditions at the Rod Laver Arena, grinding him down 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 to extend his win streak to 19 matches.
“I would say the three last points when I was getting ready for the serve, I could not really move my left leg,” Medvedev said, with both players cramping in the “super tough” conditions.
Photo: AFP
“But I’ve known him a long time and I know how to neutralize his big shots,” he said. “That’s definitely one of the best matches I’ve played lately, not even just here but last year. It was unbelievable, because he was playing really good and I managed to beat him in three sets.”
Little separated Medvedev and Rublev in the opening set, as they traded long baseline rallies until a stunning passing shot gave Medvedev his first break points in game 12, which he calmly converted to take the set.
Using iced towels to keep his temperature down, Medvedev was relentless.
After a marathon, 43-shot rally, where he covered 130m around the court, he earned another break point at 3-2 in the second set, but Rublev hung on.
However, it was only a matter of time before he struck again and after Rublev hit a stray forehand in game eight to give him a 5-3 lead, Medvedev served out for the set.
Rublev looked exhausted and Medvedev broke straight away in the third set.
Rublev quickly went 0-3 down, shaking his head at the changeover as he sloshed water on his face to try to revive himself, but he was spent and Medvedev shut out the pain of a cramping leg to reach the finish line.
Medvedev’s reward is a semi-final against Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who rallied from two sets down to knock out 20-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal of Spain 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 7-5 in yesterday’s late match.
FANS TO RETURN
AP, MELBOURNE
As Victoria state’s 6 million people prepared yesterday to emerge from a snap lockdown, tickets went on sale — heralding the end of an odd hiatus where matches were played in empty stadiums with fake crowd noises broadcast on TV.
Australia’s second-largest city was to relax its third lockdown at midnight yesterday, after health authorities contained the spread of a COVID-19 cluster centered on a quarantine hotel.
Australian Open director Craig Tiley said that the crowd would be capped at 7,477 spectators — half of the capacity of the Rod Laver Arena — for each of the final four days of the tournament.
Crowds of up to 30,000 per day were allowed into Melbourne Park for the first five days of the tournament.
Those were the first sizeable crowds in 12 months at a major.
The US Open did not allow spectators because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the French Open restricted numbers to fewer than 1,000 people, while Wimbledon was canceled.
“We look forward to welcoming fans back ... for the next four days and to finishing the event safely and on a high,” Tiley said.
He described the atmosphere as “electric”’ in the first five days and added that “the players appreciated the opportunity to compete in front of crowds for the first time in almost a year, and many spoke about how emotional it was to connect with fans again.”
Both women’s semi-finals and the first of the men’s semi-finals are to be held today.
The women’s singles final is scheduled for Saturday and the men’s singles final on Sunday.
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