Daniil Medvedev rallied from two sets down and saved a match point before beating No. 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-7 (4), 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5, 6-4 to move into the Australian Open semifinals.
The US Open champion’s bid to become the first man in the Open era to win his first two Grand Slam titles back-to-back is still on track after the 4-hour, 42-minute comeback victory.
A six-minute delay in the third-set tiebreaker for the roof on Rod Laver Arena to be closed during a rain shower swung the momentum mostly in Medvedev’s favor.
Auger-Aliassime won only one of the last six points in the tiebreaker after dominating for the first two sets. He missed a match point on Medvedev’s serve in the 10th game of the fourth set.
Medvedev saved it with a big first serve out wide and then held with an overhead winner. The 25-year-old Russian broke in the penultimate game and held to level the match at two-sets all. He then got another service break when Auger-Aliassime double-faulted in the third game of the deciding set.
Medvedev had to save two break points before closing it out more than an hour after saving a match point.
Medvedev will play Friday against French Open runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Greek extended his perfect record in Grand Slam quarterfinals to 5-0 with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 11 Jannik Sinner.
The 23-year-old, No. 4-ranked Tsitsipas has just one Grand Slam semifinal win — at Roland Garros last year — in four appearances so far.
Tsitsipas didn’t face a break point and converted all four he got on Sinner’s serve in a match that lasted just over two hours, considerably less than his five-set fourth-round win over Taylor Fritz.
The only real delay came from a weather disruption, when a late afternoon storm meant the roof over Rod Laver Arena had to be closed when the Greek star was already up a set and a break.
“I knew I was heading toward the right direction,” Tsitsipas said. “The conditions might have changed a little bit after the roof was closed — slightly faster, not as bouncy as before. I tried to adapt to the new conditions, and it just worked.”
Dozens of ball kids and staff used towels to soak up water on the court during the 15-minute break.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
