A “destroyed” Daniil Medvedev survived his second five-set encounter at this year’s Australian Open after defeating the big-serving Hubert Hurkacz in front of a predominatley Polish crowd on Rod Laver Arena this afternoon.
Hurkacz, who led the tour last season with the highest percentage of first serves and aces, was tasked with the challenge of getting past the deep-lying return game of two-time Australian Open finalist Daniil Medvedev to create an intriguing battle.
Surprisingly, Medvedev who raced out to an early 2-0 lead in the first set, but he couldn’t capitalise on the advantage as he conceded the break back and ensured a rather unsurprising tiebreak.
Mistakes at this stage of the tournament can prove extremely costly, and four unforced errors from Hurkacz in the seven-point tiebreak made the 26-year-old learn the hard way to give up the opening set.
With the assumption that breaks would be rare to come by given the serving accuracy and efficiency from both players, nobody told that the Polish No.9 seed, pouncing on a couple of sloppy service games from Medvedev to place himself right back into contention to claim the second set 6-2.
Tweeners, entertaining net play, and Hurkacz almost hitting Medvedev with his racquet - it was beginning to shape up as one of the all-time Grand Slam quarter-final classics.
In the third, a rather unconvincing set by Hurkacz was summed up through three double faults and his inability to serve an ace to lower his threat substantially. He was ultimately punished as it allowed Medvedev to grow in confidence and take a two sets to one lead and edge one step closer to the semi-finals.
Just two games away from his seventh Grand Slam semi, Medvedev’s 4-2 lead quickly evaporated as the momentum once again shifted the other way to Hurkacz’s favour to break the former US Open champion twice in the set and send the match into a do-or-die decider.
A crazy rally with both players forced to rush to the net summed up a brilliant spectacle for the neutrals as Medvedev’s tactic to move closer to the baseline on return helped the 27-year-old secure the break midway through the fifth.
Despite a nervy moment for Medvedev facing a break point at 4-3, the world No.3 relied on his experience to prevail 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in three hours and 59 minutes.
Medvedev admitted in the post-match press conference that Hurkacz is one of the toughest opponents he has had to face.
“I knew how Hubi [Hurkacz] can play and, in my opinion, he played quite well today. I felt like the games, almost all of them, probably except 2-0 in the first set, I felt like every game I had a small chance, I managed to take it,” said Medvedev.
“I don't know why, but my serve doesn't bother Hubi as much as other players. I feel other players probably don't really like me to play, I serve aces, they don't break me a lot. Hubi returns almost every of my serve.”
Medvedev awaits the winner of Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev in the final four on Friday.