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Daniil Medvedev is back in the Australian Open final and he did it the hard way, coming back from a two-set deficit against Alexander Zverev in an epic 5-7, 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 6-3 semifinal encounter.
The Russian has lost his last two finals Down Under, but since he is facing a first-time Grand Slam finalist in the form of Jannik Sinner, he will fancy his chances of getting the big win this time around.
Whatever the outcome of the highly-anticipated final, Medvedev has already reached a handful of milestones courtesy of his stellar semifinal win. Here’s a look at some of those achievements:
#1 Daniil Medvedev claimed his 10th top-10 win at Grand Slams
Daniil Medvedev’s win over Alexander Zverev - who is currently ranked at No. 6 - was his 10th over a top-10 player on the Grand Slam stage.
The Russian’s first win over a top-10 player came at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships, where he beat the then-World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in four sets. He has since gone on to beat the likes of Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, and Carlos Alcaraz on the big stage.
Medvedev has a total of 43 wins overall against top-10 players. Of these, six have come against players ranked World No. 1.
#2 Only the fourth player to win an Australian Open SF from two sets down
Daniil Medvedev has come back from a two-set deficit twice this fortnight. Prior to his semifinal heroics, he had also overturned a similar disadvantage during his second-round contest against Emil Ruusuvuori.
The magnitude of the semifinal, however, makes the win more impressive. In fact, only three other players have managed to stage a comeback after going two sets down in an Australian Open semifinal.
While Kevin Curren did that against Ben Testerman in 1984, Arnaud Clement and Marcos Baghdatis achieved the feat against Sebastien Grosjean and David Nalbandian in 2001 and 2006 respectively.
#3 Only the second non-'Big 3' player to make consecutive Grand Slam finals since 2005
Members of the ‘Big 3’ - Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, have dominated the tennis landscape for the better part of the last two decades.
While the likes of Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka have managed to break through on occasion, the Grand Slam trophies (on many occasions both the winner and runner-up silverware) have largely rotated between the trio.
It is against this backdrop that Daniil Medvedev on Friday became only the second player to reach consecutive Grand Slam finals (after Murray) on multiple occasions since Nadal ushered in the ‘Big 3’ era by lifting his first French Open title in 2005.
Besides the 2023 US Open and 2024 Australian Open finals, Medvedev had also reached the summit clash at the two tournaments in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
#4 Most hardcourt Grand Slam finals since the 2019 US Open
That Daniil Medvedev loves playing on a hardcourt is no secret. The Russian’s biggest success, including his only Grand Slam title to date (the 2021 US Open), has come on this surface.
But what may easily skip notice is the fact that since reaching his first US Open final in 2019, Medvedev has made another five Grand Slam finals (the 2024 Australian Open included), all of which have come on hardcourts.
At six, that’s the highest number of Grand Slam finals on this surface since 2019. Novak Djokovic, who did not compete at the Australian Open and US Open in 2022 amidst the Covid-19 vaccine row, comes in behind Medvedev with five hardcourt finals.
