Medvedev reacts to fight with Zverev and fights for title in Melbourne | ATP Tour

Australian Open

Medvedev reacts to the fight with Zverev and goes for the title in Melbourne

The third seed will compete for his second Grand Slam against Jannik Sinner.

January 26, 2024

Daniil Medvedev is chasing his second Grand Slam title and his first in Melbourne.
Author: ATPTour.com/es staff

You should never give up on Daniil Medvedev.

The third seed came back from two sets down for the fourth time in his career to beat long-time rival Alexander Zverev 5-7, 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(5) and 6-4 to reach his third Australian Open final.

Medvedev was two points away from defeat in the fourth-set tiebreak but kept his composure and finally advanced to his sixth Grand Slam title match after a four-hour, 18-minute epic on a busy Rod Laver Arena.

The 2021 US Open champion will be aiming for his second Grand Slam when he meets Italian Jannik Sinner on Sunday after the fourth seed defeated record champion Novak Djokovic in four sets.

The world number three struggled to find her best level in the first two sets, which saw Zverev outplay his opponent in backcourt exchanges. However, the 20-time Tour champion refused to give up and persevered. He forced Zverev to hit one ball too many in rallies. His first serve percentage increased from 50% in the first two sets to 71% in the deciding set, and he hit 22 more winners in the final three sets than in the first two.

“To be honest, I think we both didn’t play very well in the first set,” Medvedev said. “In the second set, I think I played a little better than the first. He played very well, 6-3, two breaks, I had no options with his serve. I was a little confused, but in the third set I said. I told myself that if I was going to, “If I lost this match, I would be proud of myself. I want to fight to the end and if I lose, I lose, and I managed to win and I’m very proud,” he said.

“Impressive,” Medvedev said when asked about Sinner’s performance. “He was leading 1/5 against Andrey (Rublev) in the tiebreaker and won the tiebreaker. He beat Novak, who was 10-0 up in the semi-finals on these courts, very impressive. I need to recover. Well, it will be 100%. “A hundred on Sunday,” he predicted.

How did you get back? “I hit more shots than before and started to serve better. I had a little luck in the tiebreak – 5/5 on the return. Sometimes you have to get lucky and today is my day,” he said with a smile. With his 27th win at Melbourne Park, Medvedev became the 13th man in the Open era to reach the Australian Open final three or more times, losing in 2021 and 2022 when he upset Rafael Nadal in straight sets.

Earlier in the fortnight, the 27-year-old came back from two sets down to defeat Emil Ruusuvuori in a second-round match that ended at 3:40 am. He also knocked out top-10 Pole Hubert Hurkacz in five sets in the quarterfinals.

Zverev was aiming to reach his second major final after reaching the US Open title match in 2020 when he came within two points of beating Dominic Thiem. The world number six won five-set matches against Lukas Klein and Cameron Norrie in Melbourne this fortnight.

With this, Medvedev reaches his third final in Melbourne (and sixth at a Grand Slam) and becomes the 13th player in the Open Era to reach the men’s singles final three or more times at his first major of the year. Meanwhile, after meeting for the first time at a Grand Slam, Medvedev now extends his lead in the Lexus ATP Head2Head to 12-7, having also won six of his last seven matches against the German.

Did you know…?
Medvedev would be seeking his second Grand Slam title, in his eighth Grand Slam appearance since winning the first, and would finish fifth on the Open Era list in attempts before winning a second Grand Slam title. Together with Yevgeny Kafelnikov, he is inferior to Marat. Safin (14 attempts before winning his second Grand Slam title), Djokovic and Gustavo Kuerten (both 12) and Pete Sampras (9).