Australian Open favourite Medvedev recovers to survive five-set rollercoaster

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SYDNEY, Feb。 13 (Xinhua) —— One of the favorites to win this year‘s Australian Open, Daniil Medvedev from Russia, scraped through to the fourth round on Saturday, surviving a five-set rollercoaster against Serbian Filip Krajinovic, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 6-0。

It was the first five-set victory of Medvedev’s career and the 17th win in a row in what has been a blistering run of good form, leaving him among the favorites to claim this year‘s title。

However, Saturday’s match saw the fiery Russian struggling to gain control mid-match, leading to several outbursts。 One of those saw coach Gilles Cervara leave the stadium after receiving heated words from Medvedev。

“I don‘t know what was going through his head, but at least what he said is that he was sure I’m going to win, and he just wanted to leave me alone to be calm,” Medvedev said in a post-match interview。

Whatever difference it made saw Medvedev power through to decisively claim the final set, saying afterward that the mid-match slump was more about his opponent‘s spike in form than anything else。

“He played unbelievable, especially in the fourth set,” Medvedev said。 “Third set I had some chances。。。 He raised his level。 I tried to change my position on the return in the fifth set, and it seemed to be working well, I guess。”

Meanwhile, No。 6 seed Karolina Pliskova from the Czech Republic lost her third-round matchup with countrywoman, No。 25 seed Karolina Muchova, 7-5, 7-5。

Pliskova suffered a devastating second set collapse after leading 5-0 and appearing like she would level the score at one set all。 However, an impressive seven-game streak by Muchova put an end to her opponent。

“I thought she just played a little bit better at this moment。 Of course, I played quite amazing to 5-0, but then it’s quite tough to hold this level for a longer time,” Pliskova said。

Even before that, Pliskova was out of sorts, receiving two code violations for smashing racquets, which sparked an ugly verbal confrontation with the chair umpire。

Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas had an easier run to round four, beating Swede Mikael Ymer 6-4, 6-1, 6-1, while the tournament‘s other in-form Russian Andrey Rublev recorded his seventh straight win of the year against Feliciano Lopez from Spain, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3。

Later on Saturday, world No。 1 Ashley Barty cemented a 6-2, 6-4 win over 29th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and world No。 2 Rafael Nadal overpowered Briton Cameron Norrie 7-5, 6-2, 7-5。 Enditem

Australian Open favourite Medvedev recovers to survive five-set rollercoaster

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