Australian Open tennis: Stefanos Tsitsipas races through round 3, Daniil Medvedev wins in five sets
Stefanos Tsitsipas has steamrolled fellow youngster Mikael Ymer and Daniil Medvedev had an amazing five-set win that featured a coach walking out on his star.
Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece has steamrolled fellow youngster Mikael Ymer 6-4 6-1 6-1 in a destructive display to progress in the men’s singles to the Australian Open tennis fourth round.
Ymer was able to hold his own in the first set, but Tsitsipas physically overpowered the Swede before completing the belting with a seventh break to wrap up the third set in just 26 minutes.
Tsitsipas was pushed to five sets two days ago by reborn Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, but showed his scary potential with an explosive display on John Cain Arena.
“It’s quite important for me to have battles against him, and for the next generation of tennis as well. All of us have been working really hard to get to this level,” Tsitsipas said.
Tsitsipas played a composed opening hour to snatch the first set 6-4 against Ymer.
The young Swedish star has been Tsitsipas’ hitting partner since the pair arrived in Australia and went through quarantine – where players were matched up with a rival (or friend) to minimise the amount of human-to-human contact they had while quarantining.
So they know each other’s games inside out, and Ymer held his own to start – holding serve with his first four games, before the fifth seed broke late to seal the first set.
Medvedev recovers from epic meltdown to win in five
Russian firebrand Daniil Medvedev went within a whisker of blowing his Australian Open following an incredible five-set win that featured a bizarre code violation, a coach walking out on his star and a multilingual meltdown.
Tensions started to rise for the No 4 seed when his two sets to love lead began to evaporate as Serbian Filip Krajinovic launched a spirited fightback.
After dropping the third set, Medvedev spent the changeover giving his coach Gilles Cervara arguably the best spray Melbourne Park has seen this year.
“I can’t hear you,” he shouted loudly across an empty stadium. “Leave me alone to play.”
Cervara took the request literally and walked out of Rod Laver Arena. He did not return for the rest of the match.
Medvedev continued to let his emotions run wild during the fourth set, at one stage screaming, “This is unbelievable” after his opponent got away with a lucky winner.
Meanwhile, Krajinovic didn’t escape the drama either.
He received a code violation after failing to wear his mask as he left the court to go to the bathroom.
Medvedev eventually got his emotions back in check to win the match in five sets, 6-3 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-0.
Medvedev’s coach, after being on the receiving end of one of the great ear bashings, left the Rod Laver Arena.
Channel 9 commentator Jim Courier revealed what happened.
“Medvedev’s wife, she’s there but the coach, Gilles Cervara, he’s packed up and moved on,’’ Courier said.
“Seems like there may have been a little bit of a scrap between his player and himself [Cervara] and he took his bag, walked out of the stadium, watched from up high for a minute and then moved on.
“At least that is my interpretation of what’s happening.”
NCA Sports Newsroom
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