Last year's finalist Daniil Medvedev overcomes Maxime Cressy and his own frustration to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open where he will take on Felix Auger-Aliassime for a place in the semi-finals
Monday 24 January 2022 14:01, UK
Daniil Medvedev held off unseeded American Maxime Cressy to set up a quarter-final clash with Felix Auger-Alissime at the Australian Open and stay on course for successive Grand Slams.
French-born American Cressy plays a throwback serve-and-volley game and has had an excellent start to the season, reaching the final of the Melbourne Summer Set.
Medvedev's emotions threatened to boil over after he lost the third set but the US Open champion stayed just cool enough to win 6-2 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (4-7) 7-5.
"It was not easy," said the second seed. "If I wouldn't win the fourth one, I'd probably be in a difficult mental shape because I had so many break points. Hell of a match. The fourth set was crazy."
Medvedev ranted about the match being boring and declared it his unluckiest day ever as Cressy kept hitting the lines on big points before the Russian eventually took his ninth break point of the fourth set.
Ninth seed Auger-Aliassime outlasted 2018 runner-up Marin Cilic 2-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 7-6 (7-4) in three hours and 35 minutes on John Cain Arena to reach his first quarter-final in Melbourne.
Auger-Aliassime, 21, joins compatriot Denis Shapovalov in the last eight, marking the first occasion that multiple Canadian men have reached the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam.
Italian Jannik Sinner reached the quarter-finals for the first time with a convincing victory over local hope Alex de Minaur on Monday.
Sinner, who also reached the last eight on his French Open debut in 2020, came through a testing opening set to win 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 6-4.
"In the beginning, I was serving well. He had more chances than me in the first set and after that, I tried to push a little bit more," Sinner said.
"I have gained a lot of experience in the last couple of months and I think I have grown as a player and a person."
Sinner next meets fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who twice came from a set down to defeat Taylor Fritz 4-6 6-4 4-6 6-3 6-4 just after midnight.
American Fritz was competing in the fourth round at a Grand Slam for the first time and played a fine match but Tsitsipas stepped up when it mattered most.
Tsitsipas, who will now play in the fifth Grand Slam quarter-final of his career, was taken aback following the contest.
"An epic match, that's all I can say," he shared on court.
"I gave everything out on the court. I'm very proud of myself the way I fought, the way I stayed consistent in the moments that were very close. I'm overwhelmed. The stadium was on fire. It's too good to be true."
Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski made it into the quarter-finals of the men's doubles.
Salisbury is looking to reach a third straight final with American partner Rajeev Ram after winning the title in 2020 and finishing runners-up last year.
They have been untroubled so far and beat Australian wild cards Dane Sweeny and Li Tu 6-4 6-4 in the third round.
Skupski and new Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof have made a dream start together, winning two ATP Tour titles in the build-up to the year's first Grand Slam.
The 10th seeds were also straight-sets winners on Monday, beating American Marcos Giron and Kwon Soon-woo of South Korea 6-3 6-4.
They will take on Australians Matt Ebden and Max Purcell in the last eight while Salisbury and Ram meet Italians Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini, with the winners to face each other in the semi-finals.
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