They’re the two best-credentialled young guns, looking to upset the old firm of Roger, Rafa and Novak. Daniil Medvedev and Dominic Thiem, seeded four and five respectively, took vastly different roads into the Australian Open third round on Thursday.
Medvedev was impressive in a 7-5 6-1 6-3 dismissal of Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez, a nose-bleed breaking his momentum more than his No.168 opponent, while Thiem had an almighty scare against flamboyant Aussie wildcard Alex Bolt, prevailing 6-2 5-7 6-7(5) 6-1 6-2 in his first win at Melbourne Arena.
With the roof gliding shut in just the second game of their match at Margaret Court Arena, Medvedev felt the odds shift even more heavily in his favour, the still, indoor conditions tailor-made for his flat-hitting style. He effected early breaks in each set to keep the pressure on his overmatched opponent, whom he hadn’t met since their junior days.
“I managed to stay there all the match, just tried to push him all the time. That worked well today,” Medvedev said after the 129-minute workout. He had arguably the toughest opening round draw of all the top seeds, against AO2019 quarterfinalist and world No.49 Frances Tiafoe, and wasn’t happy with his serve in the four-set win on Tuesday night.
On Thursday, the sometimes-tetchy Medvedev fired 19 aces (doing his bit for bushfire relief) and 40 winners, but still wasn’t pleased. “I’m still not happy with my serves but we are tennis players, we always want more, [we want] 50 aces per match. I hope I can be here, have a long tournament, like this I will make many more aces and help with the bushfires [relief].”
A rangy 198cm and built like a drink of water, Medvedev led the tour in 2019 for match wins (59) and hardcourt wins (46). Last January he was the only man to take a set from Novak Djokovic in his record-setting romp to the title and went on to defeat the Serb, his neighbour and sometime practice partner, at both Monte Carlo and Cincinnati. Djokovic turned the tables in a two hour, 47-minute thriller at the ATP Cup.
“They’re very close,” defending champ Djokovic said on tournament eve of the young contenders. “They’re literally one set away.”
Claycourt giant Thiem, twice a Roland Garros runner-up to Nadal, is yet to make a quarterfinal at Melbourne Park, and looked headed for another early loss against the attacking, free-hitting Bolt.
The Austrian led 6-2 5-3 before the South Australian, a natural volleyer with plenty of lefty flair, came alive and rode the wave of rowdy support in Melbourne Arena, reviving memories of his charge to the third round last year, when he overcame match points to topple the seeded Gilles Simon.
The world No.157 swept five straight games to take the second set 7-5 and hold his opening serve in the third. Thiem halted the onslaught to stay on equal terms but at 2-2 was given a warning for coaching from the stand, his box including former No.1 and countryman Thomas Muster.
Break chances flew thick and fast in the third set, but Bolt held firm three times from 15-40 down, a flashy round-the-net post winner to hold for 5-4 lifting the fans out of their seats.
A costly return miss from Thiem put him 4-1 down in the tiebreak, and the fired-up Aussie sealed it 7-5 with an ace.
The No.5 seed was left to rue just three conversions from 14 break chances. But the famous workhorse’s off-season ‘gladiator training’ kicked in for the fourth set, Thiem’s intensity and superior fitness seeing him run away with it 6-1. Bolt, meanwhile, fell into error and looked increasingly ragged as he tried to conjure points at net.
When Thiem finally broke serve with two stunning backhand passes and held for 3-1 in the decider, the underdog’s moment seemed to have passed. A double-break for 4-1 on a double-fault from Bolt, in a seven-deuce game, all-but confirmed it.
“Back of my head, he had a five-setter in the first round, also doubles yesterday,” Thiem said of his confidence in the home stretch.
Next for Thiem is Kevin Anderson or No.29 seeded American Taylor Fritz.
Medvedev meanwhile takes on Alexei Popyrin, the 20-year-old Aussie of Russian parentage who is a younger version of himself. They played in the second round at Wimbledon, with Medvedev winning in four sets after dropping the first in a tiebreak. “Was a really tough match, [an] exhausting one,” he recalls.
While both are in the shared enterprise of taking down the Big Three, only one of Medvedev or Thiem can play for the title; they are drawn to meet in the semifinals. That’s if Thiem can find a path through top seed Nadal in a potential quarterfinal clash.