Marat Safin broke the heart of a collective nation in 2005 when he topped Lleyton Hewitt in the Australian Open final.
Two guys you’ve probably heard of — Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic — have dominated the men’s draw at Melbourne Park ever since.
MORE: All the scores from Day 4 at AO 2021
But is this the year for another Russian men’s winner? Led by birthday boy Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev — among the hottest players around — Russia won the ATP Cup last week.
The big-name Russian men continued to win at Australian Open 2021 on Thursday. Here’s how.
Masterful Medvedev
Anything you can do …
Naomi Osaka beat Caroline Garcia on Wednesday to earn a 16th straight win, and Medvedev made it 16 in a row himself by easing past Roberto Carbaelles Baena 6-2 7-5 6-1 under the roof at John Cain Arena.
The pair had to wait a while to get going — starting at around 9.30pm — after Italians Fabio Fognini and Salvatore Caruso slugged it out for nearly four hours. Maybe it hindered Medvedev. He dropped serve to trail 2-1.
Would this be the day when the world No.99 collected his first top-50 win on a hard court and first top-10 win to spoil Medvedev’s 25th birthday?
Medvedev ensured the answer was no. He immediately responded and found his groove, winning 24 of the next 25 points.
A minor hiccup for Medvedev came when he dropped serve for 4-3 in the second set, but he broke to love to take a two-set advantage.
An understandably deflated Carbaelles Baena lost the third in 25 minutes.
“When you have the momentum, it feels like you can do a lot of things,” the world No.4, who cracked 13 aces and 35 winners, said on court. “Once you lose it, it’s tougher so I try to keep it as much as possible. So far it’s been working so I’m really happy about it and I hope it won’t stop for a long time.”
Will a birthday celebration follow?
“No chance,” the 2019 US Open finalist smiled. “I got my presents from my wife but tomorrow practise and get ready for the next match. If I would lose, I probably would go celebrate but I won so I cannot.”
Seeds start to duel in the third round, and Medvedev takes on 28th seed Filip Krajinovic — who won their lone meeting in 2019 — on Saturday.
Rolling Rublev
Medvedev moved closer to a second straight Grand Slam quarterfinal against his longtime pal, Andrey Rublev.
Rublev said in a recent documentary their battles as kids lasted hours and hours, and not only because of plenty of moon balls. Tears, tantrums and celebrations regularly followed after points.
The world No.8 celebrated with his arms raised and outstretched after beating Thiago Monteiro 6-4 6-4 7-6(8) at John Cain Arena for a sixth straight win in 2021, well before the rain came.
This is deja vu for Rublev, who won titles in Doha and Adelaide prior to Australian Open 2020.
He only faced one break point in the opening two sets, but saved three straight set points on serve at 4-5 in the third. A thunderous serve and one of his 16 aces accounted for the first two, then Rublev prevailed in a 17-shot rally when the Brazilian sent a forehand wide.
Rublev thwarted another set point in the tiebreak to beat the ever-improving world No.74, who ousted Rublev in Munich qualifying in 2019.
“I’ve known Thiago for a while,” Rublev said in his on-court interview. “We’ve practised a few times. I knew it was going to be a tough, physical match. I’m really happy I could win it in straight sets.”
Rublev has only dropped one set this year, to Jan-Lennard Struff at the ATP Cup.
“I’m feeling really well,” said Rublev. “Thankfully I didn’t play really long matches yet. I’m feeling great so full charge for the next round.”
His next foe, Feliciano Lopez, might not be on full charge. Playing in his 75th straight Grand Slam at the age of 39, the new dad rallied from two sets down to beat Lorenzo Sonego.
Karen cruises
While Medvedev and Rublev represented Russia at the ATP Cup, Karen Khachanov had an eventful time at the Great Ocean Road Open at Melbourne Park.
He saved two match points in the quarterfinals against rising Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp — only to exit in the semifinals against Jannik Sinner in a roller-coaster semifinal where he held a match point of his own.
And in the first round at AO 21 on Tuesday, the world No.20 had his hands full against Australian wildcard Aleksandar Vukic. Tied in sets, he found himself trailing 5-2 in the third. Cue the comeback win in four sets.
Khachanov finally had a straightforward contest on Thursday, cruising past former junior world No.1 Ricardas Berankis 6-2 6-4 6-4 at 1573 Arena to land in the third round at the Australian Open for the third straight time.
Like Rublev, he wasn’t broken, and hit 12 aces.
Khachanov has a tough task on Saturday, facing Matteo Berrettini. The Italian has won all three of their duels and six consecutive sets.