Daniil Medvedev’s streak at 20; faces Novak Djokovic in Australian remaining

Daniil Medvedev merely doesn’t lose proper now. Not to Top 10 opponents. Not to anybody, actually. Certainly to not a drained Stefanos Tsitsipas within the Australian Open semifinals.
Now let’s see what occurs in opposition to Novak Djokovic in Rod Laver Arena.
Medvedev made it to his second Grand Slam remaining as he pursues his first main championship, overwhelming fifth-seeded Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 on Friday at Melbourne Park to run his profitable streak to twenty matches. That features a dozen victories in opposition to members of the Top 10.
“He’s a player,” Tsitsipas stated, “who has unlocked pretty much everything in the game.”
Tsitsipas, a 22-year-old from Greece, got here out flat, wanting drained after an epic four-hour victory over Rafael Nadal within the quarterfinals Wednesday, getting back from a two-set deficit.
Still, Medvedev was terrific, getting damaged simply as soon as and accruing 17 aces amongst his 46 winners.
That latter whole featured a backhand go he flipped down the road after sprinting right into a slide for a break within the next-to-last sport, a spectacular effort Medvedev celebrated by elevating each arms and waving his arms in a gesture that informed the world, ‘Check me out!’
“The moment that I won the match, Medvedev called it. One of my best shots in my career.”
In Sunday’s remaining (7:30 p.m. native time, 3:30 a.m. EST), the No. 4-seeded Medvedev will tackle No. 1 Djokovic, who already owns eight Australian Open titles amongst his 17 Grand Slam trophies as he tries to realize on the lads’s document of 20 shared by Nadal and Roger Federer.
Djokovic, who gained his semifinal in opposition to 114th-ranked qualifier Aslan Karatsev on Thursday, is a mixed 17-0 in semifinals and finals at Melbourne Park.
“It’s him that has all the pressure, getting (closer) to Roger or Rafa in the Grand Slams,” Medvedev stated. “So I just hope that I’m going to get out here, show my best tennis. As we see, I can win (against) some big names if I play good. That’s the main part. He has, for sure, more experience, but more things to lose than me.”
Medvedev was the runner-up to Nadal on the 2019 U.S. Open.
“It was my first Grand Slam final against one of the greatest,” stated Medvedev, a 25-year-old from Russia. “Sunday, I’m going to come (up) against one of the other greatest.”
It took simply 75 minutes for Medvedev to seize a two-set lead in opposition to Tsitsipas. He went up 3-1 within the third earlier than Tsitsipas made issues a tad extra fascinating, if solely briefly, by taking three video games in a row, together with his solely break of the match.
But Medvedev, his baseline protection beautiful, proved too robust.
“I’m happy that I managed to change my focus and change the momentum,” Medvedev stated.
Earlier, down a set and a break within the second, Tsitsipas sat down at a changeover and chucked an open water bottle, inflicting a splash on the courtroom that compelled ball children to scramble for towels to wipe up the mess. The petulant scene drew a side-eye from Medvedev.
Early within the third set, Medvedev informed chair umpire James Keothavong that Tsitsipas’ father, who additionally coaches him, “is talking way too much” from the stands.
Tsitsipas and Medvedev have already got a little bit of an uncomfortable historical past, courting to their first assembly on tour on the 2018 Miami Open.
They tried to clean issues over via the media in current days, together with Tsitsipas backtracking from denigrating Medvedev’s fashion of play.
“Might have said in the past that he plays boring, but I don’t really think he plays boring,” Tsitsipas stated this week. “He just plays extremely smart and outplays you.”
A fairly good summation of what occurred within the semifinal.
Melbourne has a large Greek inhabitants, and Tsitsipas obtained a a lot hotter greeting, replete with flapping blue-and-white flags, when he arrived on the courtroom; Medvedev truly heard some jeers.
Attendance on the stadium was capped at 50% capability — about 7,500 — when followers had been allowed to return to the match after being barred for 5 days throughout an area lockdown on account of an increase in COVID-19 instances.
As a lot as the gang tried to spice up Tsitsipas, he by no means actually obtained going till that late push that in the end led nowhere.
“I’ve proven that I have the level to beat these players. It’s not that I haven’t,” stated Tsitsipas, who fell to 0-3 in Grand Slam semifinals, with the opposite defeats coming in opposition to Nadal and Djokovic. “Let’s hope for something better next time. I really hope it comes.”