Medvedev stops Borges to reach Australian Open quarter-finals

Two-time Australian Open finalist Daniil Medvedev is making another run in Melbourne. The No 3 seed stayed on court a little longer than he might have preferred but he got the job done in the end, defeating Portugal’s Nuno Borges 6-3, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-1 to move into the last eight of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Monday evening.

Medvedev failed to convert a pair of match points in the third set, as Borges rallied from 5-2 down to take the set 7-5, but Medvedev summoned some more energy and took six of the next seven games to close out his victory in three hours and seven minutes.

“Third set was tough physically,” Medvedev said in his on court interview with Jim Courier. “As soon as I would hit one shot in a rally that was not aggressive or deep enough, he would just go full power. It was pretty impressive.

“At the end of the third set I didn’t play long enough, good enough, and I missed too much.”

Borges did his part to prolong the match by hitting 54 winners and employing glorious touch on his drop shots, which befuddled Medvedev in the final set. But the fourth set was a complete transition from the Russian.

Medvedev converted both break points he saw against the 26-year-old in the fourth set, and afterwards felt relieved that he didn’t have to play a decider.

“I just hoped it would not five sets and I’m happy that it was not five sets,” Medvedev said.

Medvedev had a difficult recovery after his second-round win over Emil Ruusuvuori, in which he rallied from two sets down to win 3-6 6-7(1) 6-4 7-6(1) 6-0 in four hours and 23 minutes. Getting to sleep at 7 AM threw his body off a bit, but he says he should be fine by the time he plays his quarter-final on Wednesday.

“Before this match I was feeling 100 percent,” Medvedev said, adding: “But he made me run, so at the third set at the end I was pretty dead to be honest. … Now I’m again really tired, but one day off and I should be fine for the next match.”

Medvedev, ranked No 3, improved to 25-7 lifetime at the Australian Open. He will play the winner of the match between French wildcard Arthur Cazaux and Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the No 9 seed, next.

The Russian won against French qualifier Terence Atmane (5-7, 6-2, 6-4, 1-0 ret.), Finn Emil Ruusuvuori (3-6, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-0) and Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, the No 27 seed (6-3, 6-4, 6-3) ahead of his victory.

Earlier in the tournament, Borges, ranked No 69, defeated German Maximilian Marterer (7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-2), Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the No 23 seed (7-6 (7), 6-3, 6-3) and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 13 seed (6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (6)).

Read also

Medvedev after his second-round marathon: “I went to bed at 7am”

Tennis Majors

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other last 16 results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 58.910.000, most recent results first):

• Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Alexander Zverev vs. Cameron Norrie: monday
• Arthur Cazaux vs. Hubert Hurkacz: monday
• Andrey Rublev (5) beat Alex De Minaur (10): 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-0
• Jannik Sinner (4) beat Karen Khachanov (15): 6-4, 7-5, 6-3
• Taylor Fritz (12) beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (7): 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-3, 6-3
• Novak Djokovic (1) beat Adrian Mannarino (20): 6-0, 6-0, 6-3