Melbourne – After an emotional Melbourne performance, US Open champion Daniil Medvedev is now just three wins away from a second Grand Slam triumph at the Australian Open.
But the Russian tennis world number two was initially upset at his opponent’s luck and annoyed at not being able to run to the toilet as he wanted. But Medvedev won the tennis match, including a treatment break, against the unpleasantly playing and in-form American Maxime Cressy 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 7-5 and entered the quarter-finals.
Medvedev angry about court seeding
“I was pretty upset about a few things,” the 25-year-old said, questioning why he was not allowed to compete on Centre Court at Rod Laver Arena. In the absence of Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic, last year’s finalist from Moscow is the highest-ranked player at the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.
Scheduled for his fourth assignment at Margaret Court Arena, Australia’s Alex de Minaur was due the biggest stage at Melbourne Park. “I really don’t know what to do about playing Centre Court slams at the Grand Slams,” Medvedev lamented. “When you play on a smaller court, it’s harder to play against a serve-and-volley specialist than on a bigger court,” the Russian said.
For Medvedev, it was also a match of missed break chances, failing to capitalise on nine of twelve opportunities. “It’s just unbelievable how lucky he is,” Medvedev chided during the match, referring to his opponent. For the second time in his fourth appearance this year, the title favourite suffered a set loss. “It was long, it was not easy,” Medvedev admitted: Only in the first set did he manage to pull away from Cressy, he said. All the other sets were hard-fought.
Next opponent: Felix Auger-Aliassime
In the battle for a place in the semi-finals, Medvedev will now face the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime. Medvedev defeated the young Canadian in the semi-finals on his way to the US Open title in New York. In Melbourne, Auger-Aliassime, ranked ninth in the world, beat former Australian Open finalist Marin Cilic of Croatia 2-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4). It was the first time two Canadian men’s tennis players had reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament after Denis Shapovalov knocked Alexander Zverev of Hamburg out of the title race on Sunday.
