Big guns move through to final four

Russian Daniil Medvedev said he had “zero confidence” when he trailed Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime by two sets in their Australian Open quarter-final yet somehow found a way to claim victory in a Rod Laver Arena classic.

The 25-year-old world number two was being outplayed by a majestic Auger-Aliassime and looked to be running out of ideas.

But after snatching the third set on a tiebreak he benefited from the closure of the roof to change the momentum of the match and win 6-7(4) 3-6 7-6(2) 7-5 6-4.

It means he is still in with a chance of winning a second successive Grand Slam after claiming his first by beating Novak Djokovic in last year’s U.S. Open final.

“He was playing insane, like better than I have ever seen him play, at least against me or in practice,” said Medvedev, who saved a match point in the fourth set.

“I have never seen him play like this. It was unreal. And I didn’t show exactly my best level. Was missing just a little bit too much. Yeah, so third set I had zero confidence in myself and in the outcome of the match. I just tried to fight.”

On court after the match Medvedev said he has summoned the warrior spirit of absent world number one Djokovic to help him turn the match around — eliciting boos from the crowd.

Djokovic was deported on the eve of the tournament after having his visa cancelled after a long-running saga over a COVID-19 exemption to play at the tournament.

Medvedev will meet Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-finals, after he posted a 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory against Italian Jannik Sinner.

Stefanos Tsitsipas
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The fourth seed, a semi-finalist in Melbourne in 2019 and 2021, was stretched to five sets by Taylor Fritz on Monday but showed no signs of fatigue in a match that started in blazing sunshine but finished under the roof after a storm hit.

With Melbourne’s big Greek population, Tsitsipas has always drawn strong support at the Australian Open and it was the same again in the clash against Sinner.

“I think my humility helped a lot today. I knew I was going on the court facing a very good player. I tried to focus on my best shots and it paid off more than I thought,” he said in his on-court interview.

“Once again, stepping on to that court, having the crowd support, it is truly unbelievable.”

French Open champion into semi-finals

2020 French Open winner Iga Swiatek’s managed to temper her frustrations and rally from a set and a break down in brutal heat to overpower Estonian Kaia Kanepi 4-6 7-6(2) 6-3 to reach her first Australian Open semi-final.

Iga Swiatek
Photo: AFP

Poland’s Swiatek will next meet 27th-seeded American Danielle Collins, who earlier defeated Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 7-5 6-1, for a place in Saturday’s final at Melbourne Park.

In their first career meeting, Swiatek wasted breakpoint chances in each of Kanepi’s first three service games and it was the Estonian who converted her first chance in the seventh game to nose ahead.

Swiatek saved four setpoints in the ninth game that lasted 16 minutes but could not stop Kanepi from taking the opener on her ninth opportunity after another lengthy game.

“In the first set I had so many breakpoints, I felt like I missed my chances because she broke me on her first breakpoint,” Swiatek said on court.

“I was pretty annoyed. That was a mistake because I should have been focused on the future, on the next ball.”

Kanepi, 36, appeared set to progress beyond the last eight at a Grand Slam for the first time when she broke early in the second, with a frustrated Swiatek slapping herself and slamming her racquet on court.

But the 2020 Roland Garros champion, who committed 12 double faults in the match, regained her composure and raised her level in a second set tiebreaker to level the contest at 1-1, and then went on to win.

Swiatek says she’ll be ready for the last-four clash against Collins.

“My main concern is if the sun is going to be bothering me during the serve,” Swiatek told reporters. “So I didn’t really care that it’s hot and humid.

“I know that I’m physically really prepared, and I hoped that she’s going to be more tired in the end. I actually wanted to prolong some … rallies to make her more tired because I have big trust in myself in terms of my physical shape.”

British pair men wheelchair doubles title

British duo Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid made history by capturing a ninth successive Grand Slam title with a 6-2 4-6 10-7 win over Gustavo Fernandez and Shingo Kunieda in the final of the wheelchair men’s doubles.

The Britons, who have won 14 doubles slams together, went one better than Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver’s previous record of eight straight women’s doubles titles between Wimbledon 1983 and the 1985 French Open with their win on Wednesday.

Their incredible run began at the U.S. Open in 2019, and includes a silver medal at the Paralympics in Tokyo last year.

-Reuters