Daniil Medvedev marked his 100th Grand Slam match by coming through a tough encounter against Hubert Hurkacz in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
The world No.4 said he felt ‘destroyed’ after beating Hurkacz 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, in what was a rollercoaster encounter at Melbourne Park that lasted four hours. Medvedev had the chance to seal victory in four sets but lost his break advantage. Then in the decider, it was a single break in his favour that enabled him to cross the finish line.
“I’m so destroyed right now,” Medvedev said afterwards.
“It’s not that I ran out of gas but I was already feeling very tough physically by the second set.
“In the fourth set, I had no more concentration and I just had to try my best. If I lose, I lose and go home. It’s ok. I’m happy that I managed to win.”
Wednesday’s win is a case of sweet revenge for the Russian whose only previous encounter against the Pole in a Grand Slam event was at the 2021 Wimbledon championships where he was beaten in five sets. Overall, he has now drawn level at 3-3 in their head-to-head.
“He’s probably the only player where even if I stay really far back (being the baseline) it (the ball) continues to go up and doesn’t stay down. So it doesn’t really work to stay there.” Medvedev said of his tactics used against the Hurkacz serve.
In his latest match, Medvedev hit 43 winners against 42 unforced errors and won 65% of his service points. It is the eighth time in his career that he has reached the semi-final stage of a major event. To put that into perspective, the only active players to have done so on more occasions are Stan Wawrinka, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal.
This year’s tournament has been a challenging experience for Medvedev. Besides having to contend with the hot and humid weather, he didn’t finish his second round match until 3:39 a.m. Making it the third-latest finish to a match in Grand Slam history. Despite this, he continues to take it all in his stroll.
“It’s all fine. Four in the morning was a tough situation. I like this tournament, I had some tough moments, for sure. But I’m happy to be here.” He commented.
Medvedev has now won 75 Grand Slam matches so far in his career. He is bidding to win the Australian Open for the first time.
