Daniil Medvedev wins 1st career 5-setter, advances to 4th round
Day 6 of competition serves as 1st day without fans after lockdown imposed
Daniil Medvedev finally worked out how to a win a five-setter. All by himself.
The fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev was 0-6 in five-setters, and his match against No. 28-seeded Filip Krajinovic looked like it was going all the way in the third round of the Australian Open.
After some angry outbursts from an increasingly animated and chatty Medvedev directed at his box in an otherwise empty Rod Laver Arena, his coach, Gilles Cervara got up and left.
"He said just before leaving that he's sure I'm going to win the match. He's going to leave me alone to be more calm," Medvedev explained in his post-match, on-court TV interview after Saturday's 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 6-0 win. "It was a good thing to do. Luckily I won."
Medvedev had been bothered by a problem with his upper left leg and left the court with a trainer for a medical timeout late in the fourth set.
While he was falling behind in that set, Medvedev yelled after dropping a point: "Unbelievable! This is unbelievable!"
"When somebody like him [John McEnroe] says something good about you, it means you are doing things right."<a href="https://twitter.com/DaniilMedwed?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DaniilMedwed</a> certainly doing things right at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AO2021?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AO2021</a> 🙌<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AusOpen?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AusOpen</a> <a href="https://t.co/If9v7P5ouF">pic.twitter.com/If9v7P5ouF</a>
—@AustralianOpenWhen he fell behind 5-2 in the fourth, Medvedev shouted, "I never saw something like this!"
He returned to better much play in the deciding set, smacking an inside-out forehand winner to a corner to close an 18-stroke exchange and break to go up 2-0.
He didn't drop another game as he seized the momentum back from Krajinovic, who was previously 4-1 in matches that went the full five sets.
Medvedev, the U.S. Open finalist last year, will next play Mackenzie McDonald, the unseeded American who beat Lloyd Harris in straight sets to equal his best Grand Slam result by reaching the round of 16 at the Australian Open.
Nadal moves on to 4th round
No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal, a 20-time major winner, is also in his half of the draw.
Nadal extended his winning streak against fellow left-handers to 16 with a 7-5, 6-2, 7-5 victory over Cameron Norrie, reaching the fourth round at Melbourne Park for the 14th time in 16 trips.
He is chasing a men's record 21st major title but entered the tournament with back stiffness and without any competitive matches in 2021.
"First matches in a lot of time," said Nadal, who had a solid but not spectacular outing against No. 69-ranked Norrie. "I've had three matches that I hope will help me for what's coming."
In his immediate future is No. 16 Fabio Fognini, who had a straight-set win over Australia's last hope in the men's draw, 21st-seeded Alex de Minaur.
Andrey Rublev had a 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 win over 39-year-old Feliciano Lopez and stayed on course for an all-Russia quarterfinal match against Medvedev.
The Russian men had one loss, with No. 19 Karen Khachanov going down 7-6 (1), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) to No. 9 Matteo Berrettini. Fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Mikael Ymer of Sweden 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.
Canadian men's duo eliminated
Canada's Vasek Pospisil and Denis Shapovalov, who were eliminated from singles competition earlier in the week, were also bounced from men's doubles after a loss on Saturday.
The two fell in three sets to the American tandem of Nicholas Monroe and Frances Tiafoe, 2-6, 7-6 (9), 6-2.
There was some Canadian success in mixed doubles -- Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski and her partner Mate Pavić of Croatia teamed up for a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Australians Ivana Popovic and Aleksandar Vukic.
Other winners from the warmup week are through on the women's side.
Top-ranked Ash Barty, who won the Yarra Valley Classic last week for her second title on home soil, beat Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 6-2, 6-4 to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open for the third straight year.
Barty rallied from 4-2 down in the second set and broke Alexandrova's serve to make it 4-all on her sixth break point. She then won 10 of the last 15 points to close out the match.
She said while it felt strange not having fans in the stadium for the first time in her career at the highest level, there were some things she didn't mind.
"It feels a little bit like practice," she said, "so we're pretty used to it."
Barty next faces American Shelby Rogers, who beat No. 21 Anett Kontaveit 6-4, 6-3.
Elise Mertens needed just 62 minutes for a 6-2, 6-1 victory over 11th-seeded Belinda Bencic.
The No. 18-seeded Mertens won the Gippsland Trophy tuneup tournament at Melbourne Park in the week between players coming out of mandatory quarantine in Australia and when the year's first major tournament started.
The 2018 Australian Open semifinalist will take a seven-match winning streak into her match against Karolina Muchova in the fourth round.
No. 25-seeded Muchova staged an astounding second-set comeback from a 5-0 deficit in near silence, which only made the turnaround seem more bizarre as she beat No. 6 Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 7-5.
Daughter of NFL, NHL owners, Jessica Pegula, advances
It's a long way from Buffalo, New York, to the second week of a Grand Slam, which may be why Jessica Pegula's journey took a while.
The No. 61-ranked Pegula reached the fourth round at the Australian Open by drubbing Kristina Mladenovic 6-2, 6-1 Saturday.
Even Pegula, 26, seemed surprised by her best career showing at a major tournament. She beat two-time Australian champion Victoria Azarenka in the first round, and has dropped a total of four games in the past two rounds.
"I don't really expect to be playing this good next match," Pegula said.
WATCH | Pegula defeats Mladenovic, reaches 4th round:
She's a Buffalo native and the daughter of Terry and Kim Pegula, owners of the NFL Bills and NHL Sabres. She trains in Florida, and while there were no spectators at Melbourne Park to applaud her latest win, she felt plenty of support from across the Pacific.
There were no fans in the stands due to the start of a five-day lockdown imposed by the Victoria state government in response to a COVID-19 outbreak at a hotel. Up to 30,000 spectators daily — 50 per cent of capacity — had been admitted on previous days.
Another American, No. 22-seeded Jennifer Brady, joined Pegula in the round of 16 by beating qualifier Kaja Juvan 6-1, 6-3. Brady next takes on No. 28 Donna Vekic, who rallied to beat Kaia Kanepi 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Muchova upsets Pliskova
No. 25-seeded Karolina Muchova staged an astounding second-set comeback from a 5-0 deficit in near silence, which only made the turnaround seem more bizarre as she beat No. 6 Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 7-5.
Muchova played in an empty Rod Laver Arena.
"It's a big difference," the Czech said. "I was actually getting, like, happy yesterday morning that I'm finally going to play on a bigger court and there's going to be a crowd. But unlucky now for five days here. Hopefully then it's going to be back again."
WATCH | Pliskova upset by Muchova in straight sets:
Muchova waged her comeback against a fellow Czech and former world No. 1.
"I'm a little sad," Muchova said. "We are very good friends. But it's a game, so I'm definitely happy I made it through. I think we were both a little nervous."
Pegula will next play No. 5-seeded Elina Svitolina, who beat No. 26 Yulia Putintseva, 6-4, 6-0.
Pegula lost the first six points but then began to dominate with her versatile game. She hit 21 winners to just 13 unforced errors and won eight points at the net.
Her previous best showing at a Grand Slam tournament was a run to the third round at last year's U.S. Open.
Svitolina, a tour veteran from Ukraine who has won 66 Grand Slam matches, needs one more win to match her best showing in Melbourne. She was a semifinalist at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2019.
WATCH |Â Graphic warning: Nadal overcomes heckler at Aussie Open:
With files from CBC Sports
