Auger-aliassime drops heartbreaker to Medvedev

Canadian had chance to close out the match, but came up short

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA Félix Auger-aliassime was one point away from a win over world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev and a spot in the Australian Open semifinals.

But the young Canadian couldn’t finish the match off, and the Russian veteran made the most of his reprieve.

One hour and 14 minutes later, Medvedev had come back from a two-sets-to-none deficit at a Grand Slam tournament for only the second time in his career and stunned Auger-aliassime 6-7 (4), 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5, 6-4.

“You step on the court, you want to have no regrets. I can go back and think I wish I’d made different choices, or wish Daniil didn’t play as well in certain moments,” Augeraliassime said after the four hour, 42-minute quarterfinal marathon that ended early Thursday morning in Melbourne. “But, yeah, it was a good effort.

“At the end of the day, I can’t regret the effort that I put in, and the chances I gave myself,” he added. “Of course I would have loved to win. I love to win every time. It sucks to lose in the end, but that’s life. I just need to accept it.”

With the lion’s share of support from a good crowd held down somewhat by government-imposed limits due to COVID-19, the 21-year-old from Montreal was in control for much of the early going.

A surprisingly erratic Medvedev looked subpar physically. An effortful grunt accompanied his every move, and he was sweating heavily. The 25-year-old had issues with everything from the crowd, to the editorial choices on the giant screens, to the moving roof atop Rod Laver Arena.

He was searching for solutions, and not finding any holes in Augeraliassime’s game.

“I was not playing my best and Félix was playing unbelievable,” Medvedev said during his on-court interview after the win. “He was serving unbelievable. He was all over me. I didn’t really know what to do.”

And then, a little rain changed everything — at least for Medvedev.

With the Russian serving at 2-1 in the third-set tiebreak, there was a seven-minute delay as a brief shower led the retractable roof to be closed and the court dried off with towels by the ball kids.

Medvedev went off court briefly as Auger-aliassime sat in his chair, muttering to himself.

The Russian returned and won five of the next points, and the third set.

Auger-aliassime conceded that there were small moments of opportunity even before that tiebreak — little openings that, if exploited, might have given him a straightsets win.

The experienced champions recognize those moments, and put the pedal to metal to finish things off. At 21, Auger-aliassime is still learning.

Still, in the fourth set, serving to stay in the match at 4-5, Medvedev double-faulted and gifted the Canadian a match point.

And then he wrenched it away with a massive 213 km/h serve — his fastest of the night.

Medvedev was trying everything. Even then, Auger-aliassime had opportunities to break early in the fifth set. But every time the door was slightly ajar Medvedev found a solution, or Auger-aliassime couldn’t quite make the play.

Auger-aliassime was looking to reach his second straight Grand Slam semifinal. He made it to the final four of last year’s U.S. Open, where he also lost to eventual champion Medvedev.