Daniil Medvedev needed five sets to see off Hubert Hurkacz in another gruelling Australian Open quarter-final that went the distance on Wednesday.
Medvedev reached the last four in Melbourne for the third time after a 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 6-3 5-7 6-4 win over Hurkacz, who was playing in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for just the second time in his career.
The Russian will face Carlos Alcaraz or Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals, with their match taking place later on today at around 10am UK time.
“I’m so destroyed right now! Not that I ran out of gas but it was feeling very tough at the end of the second set already,” said Medvedev.
“So I was like ‘OK I need to try and stay tough’. I broke in the fourth but then he played good and I’m not going to be tough on myself.
“In the fifth set I just concentrated and said ‘OK, I just have to try my best to do whatever I can. If I lose, I lose and I go home. That’s OK’. But, I’m happy that I managed to win.”
The first set underlined that the contest could be a long one as both players had a break each and Medvedev interestingly returned from the baseline throughout, rather than his usual deep position.
It went to a tie-break which Medvedev won but Hurkacz did not let his head go down and broke twice in the second to level the match up at one set each.
Hurkacz failed to capitalise on a break-point chance immediately at the start of the third which Medvedev punished with a break of his own to go 4-1 up.
He held on to that advantage to take a 2-1 lead in sets and broke early in the fourth when it looked like the former US Open champion was on course to win the match.
Hurkacz had won the previous two meetings between himself and Medvedev but could not beat the Russian on Wednesday
However, Hurkacz upped the pace and reeled off six consecutive aces in the middle of the set, then broke his opponent to make it 4-4.
Momentum was now firmly on Hurkacz’s side as Medvedev began to struggle on serve and the Polish No 1 found himself with a set point at 6-5, which he took to send the quarter-final into a deciding set.
The opening six games of the final set were shared before unforced errors from Hurkacz gave Medvedev two break points. Medvedev broke at the first time of asking to move 4-3 ahead and resisted a Hurkacz break point in the next game as he went on to hold serve and win the match in just under four hours.
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