Australian Open: Stefanos Tsitsipas against the "man to beat"
Stefanos Tsitsipas will face the man of the hour in men's tennis in the semi-finals of the Australian Open: the Russian Daniil Medvedev .
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Feb 18, 2021, 02:40 pm
It was precisely the clear three-set success against his compatriot and friend Andrey Rublev, which meant that Daniil Medvedev's achievements in the past weeks and months are now also reflected in the world rankings. The Russian, that much is certain, will displace Dominic Thiem from third place in the ATP charts and will catch up with the two leaders Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
This is only performance-based, as this was the 19th victory in a row that Daniil Medvedev was able to celebrate on the ATP tour. Since his surprising quarter-final at the Erste Bank Open - Medvedev failed there to Kevin Anderson - the world number four has not lost a game - and with the ATP Masters 1000 title in Paris-Bercy and the triumph at the Nitto ATP Finals won two of the big tournaments in men's tennis in London.
Tsitsipas with historic success against Nadal
And even now - at the first Grand Slam of the year - Daniil Medvedev makes no move to want his winning streak to end. The 25-year-old had only made one small blemish on his way to the semi-finals - in round three the Russian had to face Filip Krajinovic over the full distance, but did not show any nakedness in the fifth decisive set.
Now Medvedev is facing a man with Stefanos Tsitsipas who found his top form just in time for the Australian Open. A top form that the Greek demonstrated in particular from the middle of the third set against Rafael Nadal, when he was already almost hopelessly behind, but then started to make a mega comeback and finally fixed his second semi-final at the Major Down Under after over four hours.
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Despite the "stratospheric performance" against the Mallorcan - which was also honored by industry leader Novak Djokovic - Tsitsipas enters the race against Medvedev as a clear outsider. Against a man who had won five of the six previous meetings with the Greek. And against a man who has to be beaten on the ATP tour these days. Industry leader Novak Djokovic also had to admit that after his semi-final success.
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