Second seed and reigning US Open champion, Daniil Medvedev of Russia, has advanced to the semi-final of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. Medvedev rallied from two sets down to beat Canada’s world number nine, Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-7, 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, 6-4.
The Russian will play Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, after the fourth-seed beat Italy’s Jannik Sinner 6-3 6-4 6-2. In the women’s draw, Danielle Collins of America beat France’s Alize Cornet 7-5, 6-1, while Iga Swiatek won her quarter-final clash against Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi in three sets.
Medvedev and Auger-Aliassime were meeting for the fourth time with the Russian having won all of their three previous matches. The Canadian won the first-set tiebreaker to go one set up. The 21-year-old had an early break in the second set. He went on to win it 6-3 when Medvedev’s return sailed long. The third set also went to a tie-breaker. Medvedev won the tie-breaker when Auger-Aliassime netted a forehand to prolong the contest.
The Russian broke Auger-Aliassime in the eleventh game of the fourth set before winning it 7-5 to level the match. The pendulum swung in Medvedev’s favour when he broke the Canadian in the third game of the fifth set. He sealed the win in 4 hours 42 minutes.
“I wasn’t playing my best and Felix was playing well he was over me, to be honest, I didn’t know what to do but I told myself what Novak would do,” says Medvedev.
Medvedev will play fourth-seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, who defeated Italian, Jannik Sinner, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to advance. Stretched to five sets by Taylor Fritz on Monday, Tsitsipas showed no signs of fatigue. The 23-year-old sealed the win when Sinner’s backhand return went wide on match point.
In the women’s draw, Danielle Collins ended Alize Cornet’s dream run at the Australian Open with a 7-5, 6-1 win to reach her second semi-final at Melbourne Park. After breaking the French woman’s serve to take the first set, the American 27th seed won the next five games at Rod Laver Arena.
Cornet, playing her first Grand Slam quarter-final in her 63rd main draw appearance at a major, finally held serve to make Collins serve out the match. Collins showed no nerves as she hammered a forehand down the line to earn two match points. She then sealed it when Cornet netted a forehand.
“To be able to get back to this level and be able to compete like the way I have been and being able to be as physical as I have been and it’s so rewarding playing against the girls that I’ve been playing against the last couple of matches, playing against really good competitors, really great athletes,” says Danielle Collins.
Collins will next play French Open winner Iga Swiatek of Poland. Swiatek rallied from a set and a break down in brutal heat to beat Estonian Kaia Kanepi 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 to reach her first Australian Open semi-final.
She sealed the three-hour contest on her second match point after an incredible rally which ended when the Estonian sent a backhand wide for her 62nd unforced error.
