Australian Open: Tsitsipas and Medvedev keep fighting

Daniil Medvedev continues to live up to his role as a favorite of the tournament at the Australian Open. In the painstakingly fought quarter-final, he encountered a nearly extinct species. Stefanos Tsitsipas also moved in a roll.

Medvedev had a bad conscience – at least a little. The Russian favorite at the Australian Open said: “I’m not happy with what I said. It was a borderline. But I’m glad I made it.”

The 25-year-old US Open champion had to cut it all in his hard-earned quarter-final against American Maxime Crissy. He argued with the referee in sweltering heat 6:2, 7:6 (7:4), 6:7 (4:7), 7:5 success and talked about his opponent’s supposed tire blows, but he didn’t ‘turn away from her in dismay and offer a big fight on the 3:30 hour clock.

In the glamorous style of American icon John McEnroe, he seemed almost extinct in the tennis world. Chrissy impressed as a classic serve and shot and sometimes angered Medvedev with his 135 nets. “My vision from the start was to serve and shoot,” Chrissy said before the match. “A lot of people said my style of play is over and it’s not working today.” And then the opposite was proven.

Medvedev meets Auger-Aliassime

But in the end, Medoviev, who made inevitable mistakes, despite intermittent stomach and back problems, triumphed, and now, as in the semi-finals of the US Open, he meets star Felix Auger-Aliassime. Last September, the Muscovite won, and soon afterwards he celebrated his first Grand Slam victory to eerie glee.

But his 21-year-old opponent is getting more and more consistent at the top level, as he proved with 2:6, 7:6 (9:7), 6:2, 7:6 (7:4) against Croatian expert Marin Cilic and with whom he caused in novelty. For the first time, two Canadian players reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open – Denis Shapovalov against Alexander Zverev on Sunday and knocked out the last German player from the tournament in singles.

This increased Medvedev’s title chances, who repeatedly mentioned Rafael Nadal as a contender. The quarter-final duel for the 20-time Grand Slam champion from Spain against Shapovalov was scheduled for early Tuesday morning German time (not before 4am/Eurosport). Then Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas and Italy’s Jank Sener had a break. They beat Taylor Fritz (USA) and Alex de Minaur (Australia) on Monday.

Australian Open: Cornet surprised – Sabalenka out

Meanwhile, in the women’s competition, France’s Alize Cornet and Estonian Kaia Kanepi continue to create a stir. Cornet, a 32-year-old athlete from Nice, shed tears of joy after her 6:4, 3:6, 6:4 success and her first quarter-final appearance at her 63rd Grand Slam.

“It’s a dream come true for me, it’s not too late,” said Cornet, who now meets USA Danielle Collins. World number two Kanepi stole Arina Sabalenka of Belarus with a time of 5:7, 6:2, 7:6 (10:7) and now meets polemic Iga Swiatek.

Australian Open: Today’s results