He was already out with one leg, but Daniil Medvedev fought his way into the semi-finals of the Australian Open. In the duel with the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime yesterday, the Russian was 0: 2 in sets behind and fended off a match point from his opponent before he went 6: 7 (4), 3: 6, 7 :6 (2), 7:5, 6:4 prevailed. As in the previous year, the US Open champion will meet Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals on Friday. The Greek easily defeated the Italian Jannik Sinner 6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 2.
“I didn’t show my best tennis, he played incredible, served incredible. I didn’t know what to do. I don’t know if people want to hear it, but I thought to myself: what would Novak Djokovic do? Or Rafa Nadal or Roger Federer,” said Medvedev in the winner’s interview on the court. “I thought to myself: Okay, I’ll fight to the last point.”
Medvedev’s victory hung by a thread. In the fourth set, Auger-Aliassime earned a match point when the score was 5: 4. Medvedev fended it off with a hard, well-placed serve – and broke the opponent’s resistance for the first time. The 25-year-old Russian won the next three games and six of the next seven games. In the decisive sentence, however, his success was again in the balance. From his point of view, Auger-Aliassime, who was injured on the ankle, missed two breakballs at a score of 4: 5, Medvedev scored three points in a row.
For women, Iga Swiatek has the chance of her second Grand Slam final a good 15 months after her French Open title. With the hard-fought 4:6, 7:6 (2), 6:3, the Pole ended the surprising winning streak of the Estonian Kaia Kanepi in the quarterfinals. After 3:01 hours, Swiatek converted her second match point and made it into the semi-finals of the Australian Open for the first time. Swiatek is already playing against the American Danielle Collins to reach the final.
Kyrgios shot young fan
Nick Kyrgios continues to put on an idiosyncratic show in Melbourne’s doubles competition. With his Australian compatriot Thanasi Kokkinakis he won in the quarterfinals against Tim Pütz (D) and Michael Venus (Nzl) 7:5, 3:6, 6:3. “He has the maturity of a ten-year-old. At the end of the day, he’s just an absolute idiot,” Venus complained afterwards. Kyrgios shot a ball into the stands during the game, hitting a jack. But the “Bad Boy” quickly drew the fans back to his side because he gave his racket to the crying spectator.
Thiem stopped training
Dominic Thiem stopped training after five minutes in Santiago de Chile yesterday. First, the media reported new wrist problems. Thiem’s spokeswoman later said that the joint was fine and that it would start in Cordoba next week.
Source: Nachrichten
