Sebastian Korda delivers HUGE upset to knock Daniil Medvedev out of Australian Open
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BREAKING NEWS: American star Sebastian Korda pulls off a BIG upset to knock out 2022 Australian Open finalist Daniil Medvedev, aged 22, reaching the fourth round in Melbourne for the first time in his career
Sebastian Korda achieved the most impressive victory of his career by eliminating two-time finalist Daniil Medvedev from the Australian Open.
The 22-year-old, ranked 31st in the world, had never reached the fourth round in Melbourne before but rarely seemed to hesitate after a dominating start that ended in a 7-6, 6-3, 7-6 win. .
Requiring a medical timeout earlier in the contest, Medvedev struggled to find the rhythm that saw him reach the final in 2021 and 2022, with the ruthless American Korda.
It was an opener in which Korda took a 4-1 lead after two early breaks.
Medvedev would respond with two breaks of his own and forced a thrilling first set tiebreaker which, after much back and forth, saw Korda take it 9-7 in a set that lasted 85 minutes.
Korda had a 0-1 record going into Friday morning against Russian Medvedev, losing their only other meeting in 2021 at the Paris Masters.
The American’s chopping play from deep on the baseline wreaked havoc on Medvedev and Korda, despite his inexperience at Slams, looked at cruise control.
Playing her opponent, she took a 3-0 lead in the second set, avoiding a break chance in the first game of the second set to do so.
Korda’s first serve was starting to get increasingly erratic (at the time he was landing just 52 per cent of them), but he would take the second set 6-3, putting him within a set of his first appearance in the fourth round in Melbourne.
Korda looked set for a rout leading 4-0 in the third but stumbled and Medvedev, a former world number 1, responded to level it at 4-4. Both held serve to force a tiebreaker, but in the end the American held his own and scored the best win of his career.
Next he will face the Polish Hubert Hurkacz.
“Thank you for the atmosphere and the support, you guys were amazing,” Korda said afterwards.
‘That was an incredible match. I knew what I had to do and stood my ground when emotions were up and down. It’s an incredible match for me.
When asked what his game plan was to combat Medvedev’s dictates from the baseline, he simply added: ‘Just go ahead!’
He continued: “I love playing in Australia, my family loves playing in Australia so it’s amazing.”
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