Daniil Medvedev admitted he asked himself ‘what would Novak Djokovic do?’ after going two sets down to Felix Auger-Aliassime in the Australian Open quarter-final. He saved a match point en route to a 6-7(3) 3-6 7-6(2) 7-5 6-4 victory on Wednesday.
Medvedev narrowly survived a shock exit in the Australian Open quarter-final after going two-sets-down to Auger-Aliassime and saving a match point in the fourth set.
The Russian compelted a five set comeback for just the second time in his career as he booked a spot in Friday’s semi-final against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The turning point in the match came during the third set tiebreak, when play was stopped for the roof to be closed as rain fell with Medvedev a 2-1 minibreak up.
And he reeled off five of the next six points to force a fourth set, eventually coming through in five sets after four hours and 42 minutes.
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Asked how he managed to turn the match around by Jim Courier, the world No 2 simply said: “I have no idea.”
Medvedev, who is the highest seed in the men’s draw thanks to Djokovic’s deportation on the eve of the tournament, admitted he was channeling the world No 1 after dropping the first two sets to the Canadian.
“I was not playing my best and Felix was playing unbelievable, serving unbelievable, I didn’t really know what to do, so I don’t know if people will like it but I told myself ‘What would Novak do?'” he continued, as fans on Rod Laver Arena booed at the mention of the nine-time champion’s name.
Referencing the rest of the Big Three, Medvedev then received a huge cheer as he added: “Or Rafa or Roger to be honest, they won so many matches like this. So I thought ‘OK, I am going to make him work, fight to the last point’.”
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