Medvedev wins Australian Open match in Third-latest Slam end

MELBOURNE, Australia — If he wasn’t on the court docket competing, Daniil Medvedev doubted something would have saved him at Rod Laver Enviornment till virtually 4 within the morning.

The third-seeded Medvedev misplaced the primary two units of his second-round Australian Open match in opposition to No. 53-ranked Emil Ruusuvuori earlier than coming again to win 3-6, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-0 in 4 hours, 23 minutes within the newest end of the week.

They walked onto Rod Laver Enviornment to begin hitting at 11:07 p.m. AEDT Thursday after ladies’s No. 3 Elena Rybakina misplaced the longest tiebreaker ever in a ladies’s Grand Slam occasion, 22-20 to Anna Blinkova.

The match ended at 3:39 a.m. Friday, and Medvedev was nonetheless there signing autographs because the clock ticked nearer to 4.

The lengthy tiebreaker and the uncertainty over the beginning time, he mentioned, meant his consuming and warmup routines had been thrown out of kilter.

“Once I went on court docket, I used to be slightly exhausted already,” Medvedev, a two-time Australian Open finalist, defined to the scattering of followers nonetheless within the area effectively after the final trams had completed working for Day 5.

It will not go down as a traditional, nevertheless it nonetheless had loads of drama.

Medvedev wanted a medical timeout for blisters on his proper foot after the second set, and he spiked his racket into the court docket after lacking an opportunity to interrupt Ruusuvuori’s serve late within the fourth.

Then he had hassle tying the laces of his proper shoe earlier than the deciding fifth set.

Wanting on the clock, he was frank with the individuals who had stayed there till a few hours earlier than the solar was as a consequence of rise.

“Truthfully guys, I might not be right here,” Medvedev mentioned in an on-court interview. “Thanks for staying. If I might be a tennis fan and I might come, at 1 a.m. I might be like, ‘OK, let’s go house. We’ll catch the tip of the match on the TV.'”

It was the newest end this 12 months, however not near the event document. Andy Murray defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis at 4:05 a.m. final 12 months in a second-round match that lasted 5 hours, 45 minutes.

And that was solely adequate for second place on the all-time checklist. The most recent-finishing match in Grand Slam historical past ended with Lleyton Hewitt beating Marcos Baghdatis at 4:34 a.m. within the 2008 Australian Open.

After participant complaints final 12 months, Australian Open organizers determined to increase the event by including a fifteenth day and beginning on a Sunday for the primary time. The primary spherical was break up over three days, and no matches went previous 2 a.m.

However the first day of the second spherical was a distinct story, with two early males’s matches going to a decisive tiebreaker after 5 units and top-ranked Iga Swiatek’s opener in opposition to Danielle Collins going for nearly 3¼ hours.

And so Day 5 of the Australian Open completed on a Friday, anyway.

Medvedev mentioned he must heat down, get some physiotherapy and attempt to get to sleep by 6:30 a.m. and get up a while after noon to begin making ready for his third-round match in opposition to Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Ruusuvurori, a 24-year-old from Finland who was aiming to succeed in the third spherical for the primary time at a significant, began effectively.

He broke the 2021 US Open champion’s serve within the second recreation and took the primary set in 42 minutes. It took virtually twice that lengthy to take the second set in a tiebreaker for a 2-0 lead.

“If I might be a tennis fan and I might come, at 1 a.m. I might be like ‘OK, let’s go house. We’ll catch the tip of the match on the TV.'”

Daniil Medvedev, on his late second-round match on the Australian Open

After a medical timeout, Medvedev began his comeback. He broke for a 2-1 lead and, after an trade of breaks, took the third set in 49 minutes.

He additionally broke to open the fourth. However Ruusuvurori broke again, changing with a leaping overhead, to get again on serve, and had Medvedev screaming towards his assist staff within the stands.

Ruusuvurori held for a 5-4 lead with a few forehand passing pictures, and Medvedev hurled his racket into the court docket earlier than he walked to the chairs for the changeover. It earned him a warning from the chair umpire.

At deuce within the subsequent recreation, Ruusuvuori was two factors from profitable the match at 2:56 a.m. However he stepped right into a service return and missed a forehand broad down the road, after which despatched a forehand lengthy.

In spite of everything that, the tip got here comparatively rapidly.

Medvedev took a 4-0 lead within the tiebreaker, seizing momentum.

After an virtually eight-minute break between the fourth and fifth units, Medvedev’s expertise kicked in and Ruusuvuori’s legs gave out.

The 30-minute deciding set was solely extended by Ruusuvuori taking a medical timeout for remedy on his sore proper shoulder.

“The one two matches I’ve come again from two units to like down was on this court docket,” Medvedev mentioned.

Going into the match, he was 4-10 in five-setters, together with a loss to Rafael Nadal within the 2022 ultimate after he had taken the primary two units.

“This one,” he mentioned, “goes to for certain keep in my reminiscence.”