On one of Melbourne Park’s most dramatic days - and nights - of tennis, Daniil Medvedev scripted one more incredible story before everybody finally went to bed when he hit back from the brink to beat Finn Emil Ruusuvuori in a five-set thriller that finished in the early hours of Friday morning.
Medvedev was outplayed by an inspired world No.53 during the opening two sets and was two points from defeat when he was serving at 4-5 in the fourth.
The world No.3 used all his experience and resilience to turn the match around to somehow finish on top 3-6 6-7(1) 6-4 7-6(1) 6-0 in a contest lasting four hours and 23 minutes that finished at 3.39am.
It is the third time in Medvedev’s career he has recovered from a two-set deficit at a major. He will play Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime on Saturday for a place in the fourth round.
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For two sets, Medvedev’s safe passage looked extremely unlikely. Ruusuvuori reached his second tour final in Hong Kong during the opening week of the year and reproduced that same form to outplay and frustrate the former two-time Australian Open finalist for large chunks of the match.
“Tough, tough, tough,” was Medvedev’s immediate assessment. “First set I was missing too much, I was missing all over the place.
“Then I gave like 55 rackets [to the stringers] to change the tension and finally found one where I felt like I was playing better. Sometimes it’s just something you create in your mind.
“Better do the physio now and I’ll see how much I’ll sleep. If I go to bed at 6am maybe [sleep] something till like 12 [noon], easy practice tomorrow.
“Can be tough, it’s not easy, but I want to try to win and I’m going to give my everything and if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.”
Ruusuvuori was brilliant in the early stages, powerful precision hitting from the back of the court allowing him to take the opening set in 42 minutes.
It was more of the same as he broke an erratic and increasingly frustrated Medvedev early in the second.
Medvedev suddenly pulled himself together though and from 1-3 he rattled through four successive games to build a surprise 5-3 advantage.
From there the set started to swing back towards the Finn. Some poor decision making from Medvedev allowed him to break for 4-5 and Ruusuvuori saved three set points before levelling at 5-5.
This unpredictable second set took another twist when Medvedev asked for a medical time out for a blister on his foot before the tiebreak got going.
The delay didn’t bother the lower-ranked player one bit though and he started the shootout superbly.
Ruusuvuori quickly built a 4-0 lead and the damage was done. The Helsinki right-hander finished off the shootout 7-1 to go two sets ahead.
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When Ruusuvuori held break point for a 2-0 lead at the start of the third it felt like Medvedev was teetering on the edge. The Finn missed a backhand to allow Medvedev back into the game and then double faulted on his own serve to let the top 10 player break for 2-1.
Even this set wasn’t without its dramas for Medvedev however. A 4-1 lead quickly disappeared, but from 4-4 the former world No.1 claimed the next two games to win the set. He was back in the match.
Medvedev made sure he carried that momentum into the fourth with another early break of serve but again there were more twists and turns to come.
Trailing 3-4 Ruusuvuori was able to set up two break points and he surged forward off a short ball at just the right time to force Medvedev to miss his pass. The scores were level again at four apiece.
A strong service game from the youngster put him just a game from victory at 5-4 and Medvedev picked up a code violation as he hurled his racket towards his bench as he went to switch ends.
Medvedev then found himself just two points from defeat at 4-5 deuce, before managing to keep his cool long enough to win his next two service games to force a tiebreak.
In contrast to the second set shootout, this time it was Medvedev who sprinted into a 4-0 lead. There was no route back for Ruusuvuori and at just after 3am the match went into a decider.
With Ruusuvuori visibly tiring, Medvedev quickly took control of the fifth set and with the third seed up 3-0 the Finn called the trainer.
With Ruusuvuori’s fuel tank emptying fast, Medvedev turned the screw and raced through the remainder of the match without dropping another game.