Wednesday 17 February 2021

Medvedev Drains 'Duracell' Rublev: 'I'm Really Happy About It'

Daniil Medvedev says there are no hard feelings after he beat his childhood friend Andrey Rublev on Wednesday for a place in the Australian Open semi-finals.

“We won't discuss the match unless he will want to at [any] moment, but I don't think so, because we are just good friends outside [of] the court,” said Medvedev, who won 7-5, 6-3, 6-2. "If we [wanted] to [eat] dinner out tonight, I think we could.

“Andrey was definitely one of the favourites to go far in this tournament. To win this match in three sets, especially [with] how physical it was, was [an] amazing level from me. I'm really happy about it.”

Both players suffered in the afternoon heat, with Medvedev starting to cramp towards the end of the match, which lasted two hours and 23 minutes.

“We had some unbelievable rallies. I think the match was high quality. It's the first time to be honest [that] I saw Andrey tired… He's practising with his coach [Fernando Vicente], for five hours per day non-stop, never tired. We always laugh about him, that he's like a battery, like Duracell. I actually managed to get him tired.”

The 24-year-old Medvedev has won his past 19 matches - dating back to November 2020 - and is riding an 11-match winning streak against Top 10 players in the FedEx ATP Rankings.

“The best feeling is when you win matches, so the more you win in a row, the more it's better as a feeling,” said Medvedev. “For me the momentum, the confidence [is] a big part. I think you can see that once I lose it, I start to make more unforced errors and that's where my game can [become] a little weaker.

“I'm really happy that I managed to keep this momentum going so far, and it feels great. Hopefully I can continue for at least two [more] matches.”

The World No. 4 will now challenge Rafael Nadal, the second seed and 2009 Australian Open champion, or fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in the semi-finals on Friday.



from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/3aqj2es

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