Melbourne [Australia], January 22 : Russian superstar Daniil Medvedev continued his fairytale run at the Australian Open 2024 as he sealed his place in the quarterfinal after beating Portugal's Nuno Borges 6-3, 7-6(4) 5-7, 6-1 on Monday.
When Medvedev took a 5-2 lead in the third set and then had two match points at 5-4 on Borge's serve. Everything was going as planned for the Russian, however, he dropped five straight games before finding his footing in the fourth set and winning it all.
Medvedev only had 21 winners (aside from aces) compared to 49 for Borges, who dominated play by combining multiple drop shots and frequent trips to the net to take advantage of Medvedev's deep-court positioning.
Medvedev praised Borges' strategy and performance, stating that he wasn't prepared for how well his drop shots and overall weight of shot worked.
"Dropshots in general, I'm not scared of them. But he was playing some unbelievable drop shots at first. They were short before the net, not bouncing. Like, wow, really, really surprising. Sometimes he would do them, like, almost on the half volley where you're not expecting it. I think he did maybe - not to exaggerate - 20, minimum of 15 I would think," Medvedev said, according to ATP.
"Your legs hurt after running there, especially where I stay. Also his shots were so strong and heavy, which I couldn't see on TV when he played Grigor. There was an Australian Open statistic. His forehand was much heavier than Grigor's. That's strange. Grigor has a very heavy forehand. On the TV I couldn't see it. Today I felt it. He has really heavy strokes," he added.
Medvedev will next face ninth seed Hubert Hurkacz in the quarterfinal at the hard-court Grand Slam.
Elsewhere, Alexander Zverev pulled off an outstanding dramatic triumph 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(10-3) against Cameron Norrie to book his quarter-final spot at the Australian Open.
"At the end of the day, this is a Grand Slam. Everybody is playing their best here. Cam was definitely playing amazing tennis and I'm just happy to be through," said Zverev.
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