Daniil Medvedev, the sighted US Open champion and last year’s Australian Open finalist, is still in contention to reach the title match in Melbourne again. The Russian won in four sets (6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4) and 7-5 in three and a half hours) American Maxime Cressy, who had won nine games this year and been runner-up at the Melbourne ATP 250 in which he lost to Nadal. The number two in the world was not surprised by his rival’s serve and volley game, which made things difficult for him in three of those four sets. Cressy was heavily penalized for his 18 double faults and Medvedev was helped a lot by his good handling of the ball, shown by the 11 unforced errors he committed.
In the quarterfinals, a round that Medvedev reaches in Grand Slams for the sixth time, he will face Felix Auger-Aliassime, who showed mental and physical strength to get rid of Marin Cilic, who was looking to eliminate the fifth seed, Andrey Rublev. The 21-year-old Canadian came from behind to win 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2, 7-6 (4) in 3h35. The match was a serve war with 24 aces for the Croatian and 22 for Auger-Aliassime, who was advised from a distance by Toni Nadal.
His classification, together with that of Shapovalov, means that for the first time in the history of the Slams, Canada has two representatives at the same time in the quarterfinals. Medvedev and Auger-Aliassime, who had lost in their previous three meetings with Cilic, They met a few months ago in the semifinals of the US Open, with victory for the Muscovite, who ultimately won the tournament in that final against the absent Djokovic.
Australian Open Men’s Draw.