Daniil Medvedev overcame fitness issues and Stan Wawrinka to make it to his first ever Grand Slam semi-final after defeating his opponent in a fluctuating four-setter.
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Cincinnati Masters winner Medvedev suffered early quadriceps issues and a string of double-faults in the opening set to move to his first ever Grand Slam semi-final.
He broke Wawrinka in the very first game of the opening set but his problems with his double-faulting began early in the set. Up 40-0 in the second game, he double-faulted thrice and allowed Wawrinka a break-point before coming back to win the game.
On his next service game, there were two more of those double-faults, pushing the count up to five in a span of around 10 minutes – he had five of those in his entire fourth round match – but strangely, Wawrinka wasn’t able to take much advantage.
It was only after Medvedev’s timeout for his thigh issue that the Swiss number two began to show signs of making a comeback, and broke the Russian back. Back in the set, Wawrinka began the tie-breaker with a lot more confidence, having earlier given every indication he might have broken Medvedev for the second time to take the set.
Despite having a set-point though at 6-5 in the tie-breaker, Wawrinka failed to convert it and two points later, the Russian, against the run of play, had won the set.
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It was a different Medvedev who walked out in the second set, taking control of his service games and improving his first serve percentage. In fact there were no double faults served, unlike the first set, and he managed to not just break early in the set but also held on to it till the very end.
The glimmer of hope that Wawrinka had around the slow-moving Medvedev began to fade away when he held on his serves with aplomb and finished off the set in a mere 33 minutes.
Wawrinka’s comeback came in the third set, when those old habits returned for the Russian. Two double-faults in the very first service game brought the Swiss player a break and he quickly made it three to nothing with a following hold.
Things went to serve after that, and Wawrinka looked like he was back in the encounter when he pulled a set back. However that joy was short-lived, as Medvedev did to his opponent what he had done to his own self in the previous set – a break in Wawrinka’s very first service game.
If Wawrinka had to make a comeback, he needed his break-point chances, instead it was Medvedev who broke once again to go 5-1 up. And then with a lob shot over Wawrinka he finished off the match in four sets to set up his first ever semi-final at a Grand Slam.
Later, Medvedev admitted he was feeling okay before the match but thought he had pulled his quadriceps during the first set and might not have continued.
In the post-match interview, Medvedev said:
“The match was really strange. I had really big pain in my quadriceps and I didn’t feel i could continue the match in the first set. I feel really strange about this match but I’m happy to be in my first major semi-final.”
“Before the match I was feeling perfect and all these tapes were for protection. In the first game of the match I pulled my quadriceps. I took a painkiller and by the fourth set I was feeling normal. I’ll see how I feel and will try my best to be fit for the semis.”
“So many people support me, so many people don’t like me. I can just say, I try to be myself guys. I have to say, sorry guys, and thank you.”
Medvedev will now face the winner of the match between Roger Federer and Grigor Dimitrov.
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