{"id":52890,"date":"2024-01-27T03:49:17","date_gmt":"2024-01-27T03:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/medvedev-reaches-australian-open-final-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-01-27T03:49:17","modified_gmt":"2024-01-27T03:49:17","slug":"medvedev-reaches-australian-open-final-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/medvedev-reaches-australian-open-final-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Medvedev reaches Australian Open final | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nMELBOURNE:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniil Medvedev admitted he was fortunate to battle into a third Australian Open final Friday with a gritty come-from-behind five-set defeat of Alexander Zverev, who revealed he was not well.<\/p>\n

The never-say-die Russian third seed was in a precarious position on Rod Laver Arena but fought back to win 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (7\/4), 7-6 (7\/5), 6-3 after four hours 18 minutes.<\/p>\n

Ice-cool Italian Jannik Sinner will be awaiting him in Sunday’s title match after stunning defending champion Novak Djokovic in the other semi-final.<\/p>\n

Medvedev has been to the final twice before, losing to Djokovic in 2021 and Rafael Nadal a year later.<\/p>\n

It has been a long and arduous road to get back there, with the 27-year-old surviving two four-set battles and a pair of five-set matches before meeting Zverev.<\/p>\n

But he proved once again to have the stamina, grinding down the sixth seed to keep alive his quest to collect a second Grand Slam title after winning the 2021 US Open.<\/p>\n

He admitted he was “a little bit lost” in the opening two sets.<\/p>\n

“But during the third set I just kept saying to myself that if I lose this match I just want to be proud of myself,” said the 27-year-old, who is into his sixth final at a major.<\/p>\n

“I want to fight until the end, fight for every point. And I managed to win and I’m very proud.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes you need to be lucky and today is my day.”<\/p>\n

But it was a cutting loss for Zverev, who was bidding to make only his second Slam final.<\/p>\n

He said he had not been feeling well since his stunning upset of second seed Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

“I mean, I am a bit sick. I got a bit sick after the Alcaraz match with a bit of fever and stuff like that, so that obviously didn’t help the recovery, and I did play quite a lot,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So, yeah, just loss of energy a little bit in the end of the second set, and against him, it’s impossible to play when you’re not 100 percent physically.”<\/p>\n

Zverev raced into a 4-1 in the first set but Medvedev gradually began lifting his intensity and scored a double break to level at 5-5 as the match turned into a baseline slugfest.<\/p>\n

A third break for Zverev allowed him the chance to serve for the set a second time and he came through a titanic tussle that included one epic rally of 51 shots and another of 40.<\/p>\n

He drew first blood again in set two, converting a fourth break point in the fifth game.<\/p>\n

The setback dented Medvedev’s resolve, with the German increasingly dictating the rallies, pushing him from corner to corner to consolidate and bank a two-set lead.<\/p>\n

Medvedev<\/a> stepped in slightly from his deep baseline position in the third set and it altered the dynamic, with a more aggressive net game pushing the set to a tiebreak that he won.<\/p>\n

The fourth set went the way of the third, with nothing between the players until another tiebreak, when Zverev buckled on serve when two points away from the final.<\/p>\n

An increasingly frustrated Zverev saved two break points in the fifth game of the deciding set before surrendering on a third with a netted forehand.<\/p>\n

It put the Russian 3-2 ahead and he consolidated on serve, with no way back for Zverev.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE: Daniil Medvedev admitted he was fortunate to battle into a third Australian Open final Friday with a gritty come-from-behind five-set defeat of Alexander Zverev, who revealed he was not well. The never-say-die Russian third seed was in a precarious position on Rod Laver Arena but fought back to win 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (7\/4), 7-6 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/medvedev-australian-open-2024-qf1706303394-0\/medvedev-australian-open-2024-qf1706303394-0.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t