Danill Medvedev came back from two sets down in the Australian Open quarterfinal and said he was inspired by Novak Djokovic.
Medvedev fought back from two sets down against Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime to win 6-7, 3-6, 7-6, 7-5, 6-4 in a match lasting four hours and forty two minutes.
The Russian has only ever come from two sets down once before in his career at Wimbledon against Marin Cilic last year and when asked how he managed to turn the match around against Auger-Aliassime, he said he thought of Novak Djokovic.
“I was not playing my best,” said Medvedev.
“Felix was playing unbelievable, serving unbelievable, he was all over me to be honest, all over the place, I didn’t really know what to do so I was like, what would Novak would do?
“And you know what came to my mind was that, because he’s one of the greatest champions, or Rafa or Roger to be honest, they’ve won so many matches like this, and I just thought, ok I’m going to make him work.
“If he wants to win it, he needs to fight until the last point. I’m going to try to make him tired for the next match and fight till the last point. And it worked, I managed to raise my level during the game, especially in the tie-break.”
The third set tie-break was interrupted by a short break while the roof on the Rod Laver Arena was closed due to rain and Medvedev said this benefitted his game.
“It’s actually really funny, but when they closed the roof, I suddenly felt the momentum change in my game.
“I felt like I could go through the court more, serve better, and I just started playing better.”
Medvedev will now play Stefanos Tsitispas in the semi-final, the two players have a long-standing rivalry but the Russian has an advantage in their head-to-head meetings winning six of their eight previous matches.
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