Daniil Medvedev stormed back from two sets down to reach his third Australian Open final. The world No. 3 needed more than four hours to pull off the comeback against Alexander Zverev, winning 5-7 3-6 7-6(4) 7-6(5) 6-3 after the German accused him of “doing a show”. Medvedev will now take on Jannik Sinner in Sunday’s championship match, the first time he has not faced either Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal in a Grand Slam final.
Following Sinner’s win over Novak Djokovic in the first semi-final of the day, Medvedev and Zverev sensed an opportunity coming into their match. After 18 meetings on the tour, the two men were facing off for the first time at a Grand Slam. Six of those matches had come in the last year, with Medvedev winning five of them. But it was the German who picked up where he left off in the quarter-final, racing to a 4-1 double-break lead.
Following a statement performance against Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday, Zverev looked solid again as the No. 3 seed struggled to find his first serve and threw in five double faults. It became clear it would be a long night when both men became embroiled in multiple gruelling rallies over 20 shots. The former US Open winner managed to get one of the breaks back and, with Zverev serving for the set, pounced again to level at 5-5.
The world No. 6 started mixing things up, coming to the net to finish off some of the points. And it paid off as he immediately broke again, earning himself another chance to serve for the set. Medvedev continued to extend the rallies to keep himself in it but Zverev won a 51-shot exchange to get to his first set point, taking the opener 7-5 after an hour.
Medvedev started to improve in the second set but he was still no match for Zverev, who continued to find his angles and hit 13 winners in the second set to win it 6-3. The tide started to turn in the third set as Medvedev came forward to the baseline, with his return position now a metre closer. He had two break points early on and set up another at 4-4 with a ridiculous rally that left Zverev on the floor while Nick Kyrgios was screaming in the commentary box.
While Medvedev couldn’t capitalise, his improvements paid off and he took the third set 7-6(4) in a tiebreak. It was a similar story in the fourth set, as the 27-year-old couldn’t convert a chance to break at 4-3. No Medvedev vs Zverev match happens without a bit of drama, and the world No. 3 stirred the pot when he asked to see a replay of one of Zverev’s serves as the 26-year-old served to stay in the set at 5-6, prompting Zverev to tell the umpire: “He knows the ball was inside the line but he’s doing a show here.”
They went to another tiebreak where Medvedev threw in a double fault, putting Zverev two points from victory with two chances to serve. But the former world No. 1 stunned his opponent with a drop shot return and went on to take it 7-6(5), forcing a decider. And the drama continued as Zverev was the one facing break points early on, saving the first two before giving away a third.
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