Medvedev Saves Matchpoint vs Auger-Aliassime In Australian Open QF Thriller; Tsitsipas Soars

Daniil Medvedev simply refuses to lose. The World No. 2 called upon all his championship reserves to overcome Felix Auger Aliassime in a thrilling come-from-behind 6-7(4), 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-5, 6-4 victory.

The 4 hour, 41 minute affair saw the Canadian jump out early. At the US Open, Medvedev dominated the youngster in the semifinals, but Auger Aliassime was the aggressor off the ground at the start.

Auger Alisiassme would fail to serve out the first, but aided by two double faults in breaker by Medvedev, he was able to secure the set let.

Then in the second, a quick break put the 21-year-old on a path for a two set lead, which he have thanks to a great set of serving.

The tournament hadn’t seen a 0-2 comeback, but there were plenty of close calls in the quarterfinals, would this be the occasion?

Medvedev overcame a brief rain delay in the middle of the third, and with the Rod Laver roof closed, his serve added some bit. Auger Aliassime broke Medvedev twice with the roof open, but not again once it closed.

Medvedev dominated the third set breaker. Then in the fourth saved a match point on his serve at 4-5, and followed by break a dispirited Auger Aliassime to level.

Two double faults early by Auger Aliassime would give Medvedev a 2-1 lead with a break in the fifth, and that’s all he nreded.

“I was not playing my best and Felix was playing unbelievable. Serving unbelievable. He was all over me to be honest,” said Medvedev on court.

“I told myself ‘what Novak would do?’ Because he’s one of the greatest champions,” he said as the crowd booed. “Or Roger or Rafa , they have won so many matches like this.

“I just thought, ‘Okay, I’m gonna make him work. If he wants to win it, he needs to fight to the last point. It worked, I managed to raise my level, especially in the tiebreak.”

Medvedev now gets a semifinal match against Stefanos Tsitsipas for a second straight year.

“Stefanos is a tough player. We had a lot of matches already. A lot of tough ones,” Medvedev said.

“Last year I managed to play pretty well, so I just hope that I’m gonna serve well and show my best tennis and that’s how we can have a good match. ”

Tsitsipas earlier played his best of the season crushing Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to reach his third Australian Open semifinal.

The Greek was firing in every department and not even a brief rain delay and the closing of the roof early in the second could slow him down.

The 23-year-old who had elbow surgery less than two months ago finished with 30 winners, never lost serve, never faced a break point and was a perfect 4-of-4 on break chances.

“I think my humility helped a lot today,” Tsitsipas told the crowd. “I knew I was going on court facing a very good player. So I stayed intact and I tried to focus on my best shots and it kind of paid off more than I thought.

“I’m very, very happy with how I served, the way I came in, involved my tactics a lot in today’s match structure.”

The men’s semifinals this year will be played on Friday back-to-back in the late afternoon.