World No.3 Daniil Medvedev once again pushed himself to the limit on Wednesday to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open, dismissing world No. 9 Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (7/4), 2 -6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, in just under four hours.
Medvedev, already a double finalist in Melbourne (2021 and 2022), will play his third semi-final there on Friday, his eighth in total in a Grand Slam. The 27-year-old Russian will face either world No.2 Carlos Alcaraz or No.6 Alexander Zverev, opposed in the evening in Melbourne.
The poster for the other semi-final of the men’s draw has been known since the day before: it will oppose world No.1 Novak Djokovic, in search of an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam coronation and an eleventh at the Open. Australia, to world No.4 Jannik Sinner.
Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev during his victory against Pole Hubert Hurkacz in the quarter-final of the Australian Open in Melbourne on January 24, 2024 / Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP
This is the second time in the Australian fortnight that Medvedev, who was playing his hundredth match in a Major tournament, has won in five sets.
Against Hurkacz, he nevertheless had a break lead in the fourth set (4-2), but the Pole managed to come back to delay the deadline.
Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev writing “Just want to sleep now” on a camera after his victory against Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in the quarter-final of the Australian Open in Melbourne on January 24, 2024 / Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP
“There, straight away, I’m destroyed,” said Medvedev after his victory, explaining that he “lost his concentration in the fourth set”.
“So far, it’s okay at the start of the matches, and that’s what counts, then you have to try to win, and if you’re dead at the end, it doesn’t matter because you have a day off then,” he declared at a press conference.
In the second round, the former world No.1 and winner of the 2021 US Open narrowly escaped, after being led two sets to zero by the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori (53rd), finally overthrown 3-6 , 6-7 (1/7), 6-4, 7-6 (7/1), 6-0.
The match then ended at 3:40 a.m. The Russian will enter his semi-final having already spent 16 hours and 18 minutes on the courts since the start of the tournament.
“Sometimes I see players like Hubi (Hubert Hurkacz, Editor’s note) who play matches in five sets, win 7-6 in the fifth and I see them being good in the locker room,” Medvedev stressed.
“I’m like, ‘wow’, maybe it’s a metabolism thing, maybe it’s genetic, I don’t really know. I just know that I’m tired,” he continued.
A physical state confirmed by the note left by Medvedev on the camera: in marker, the world No.3 wrote “Just want to sleep now”.
