MY ACCOUNT
Daniil Medvedev drew inspiration from Novak Djokovic in order to complete a storming comeback against Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Australian Open.
The Russian was two sets down and facing a quarter-final exit at the hands of his on-song opponent, but he dug deep to roar back and set up a last-four showdown with Stefanos Tsitsipas.
After sealing a memorable 6-7 (4-7) 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 6-4 victory under the roof on Rod Laver Arena, Medvedev revealed that asking himself what world number one Djokovic would do had provided the catalyst for his revival.
Asked how he managed to win a contest in which he had looked down and out, the US Open champion responded: “I have no idea.
“Talking about the match point, I managed to serve well. If I had a second serve who knows what would have happened.
“I was not playing my best. Felix served unbelievable; I was all over the place.
“Then, I thought to myself, what would Novak do? So I said, ‘I am going to make him work’.
“I managed to raise my level and when they closed the roof I was able to go through momentum and I started playing better.”
Medvedev, who was beaten by Djokovic in last year’s Melbourne final, faced a match point against Auger-Aliassime in the fourth set before finding his groove.
He rode his luck at times, with Auger-Aliassime only converting two of his 11 break points as Medvedev improved his record in meetings between the pair to 4-0.
