This story was originally published by Dead Spin
Russian Daniil Medvedev toppled World No. 1 Jannik Sinner 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-3 in a grueling four-hour match Tuesday to move into the semifinals at Wimbledon.
The victory on the grass courts of London snapped Medvedev’s five-match losing streak to Sinner, who was two sets down to Medvedev in the Australian Open final in January and came back to win.
The two played an epic first set, with the fifth-seeded Medvedev serving at set point in the tiebreaker, only to squander the chance. Even after Sinner cashed in on the opportunity, Medvedev stayed calm and confident, and took the second set.
Three games into the third set, down 1-2, Italy’s Sinner called for a medical timeout. After medical staff checked his pulse and his oxygen level, he was taken off the court and returned about 10 minutes later.
Medvedev, in his on-court interview, said it was tough to play against an opponent who was medically compromised.
“It’s actually very tough because … one moment I could feel that he doesn’t move that well so it’s always tricky because you wanna play more points to make him suffer a little bit more — in a good way — and at the same time you know that he at one point is gonna say, ‘OK, I can’t run anymore so I’m gonna go full power.’
“That’s what he did and he had set points to win the third set, and yeah in a way I would maybe prefer to not have this situation, but everything is well when it ends well so I’m pretty happy.”
Sinner, indeed, had two set points up 6-5 in the third set, but Medvedev fended them off to move to a tiebreaker.
Medvedev will play the winner of the match between No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and No. 12 Tommy Paul in the semis on Friday. It will be the second consecutive trip to the Wimbledon semifinals for Medvedev, who lost to Alcaraz in straight sets last year.
“I knew if I wanted to beat Jannik, it needs to be a tough match,” Medvedev said. “I felt at one moment he was not feeling that good but I knew that this can get away and then he started playing better so I’m happy that I managed to still, like stay high level. It was great points, great match and I’m really happy to win and really happy with my game and looking forward to it,”
–Field Level Media
