Russian superstar Daniil Medvedev has ended the fairytale Australian Open run of unheralded Portuguese Nuno Borges with a far-from-convincing fourth-round win.
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Attempting to avenge his gut-wrenching loss to Rafael Nadal in the 2022 Open final, the world No.3 moved into the last eight at Melbourne Park by eking out a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 5-7 6-1 victory on Monday.
Medvedev was up and down in the three-hour and seven-minute encounter on Rod Laver Arena, recording 11 double faults and failing to convert two match points in the third set.
"The third set was tough physically because he was playing very aggressive," the 27-year-old Russian said of the world No.69.
"As soon as I would hit one shot in the rally that was not aggressive or deep enough, he would just go full power. It was pretty impressive.
"The end of the third set I didn't play long enough, good enough, missed too much (and had) some double faults.
"I just hoped it would not be five sets, and I'm happy it was not five sets."
Bidding to become the first Portuguese man or woman to reach the quarters of a grand slam, Borges frequently took up the fight but too often let the man from Moscow off the hook, racking up 66 unforced errors.
It was the first time a Portuguese player has played a centre-court singles match at a major since Wimbledon in 2019, when Nadal steamrolled Joao Sousa in the fourth round.
Before arriving Down Under, 26-year-old Borges had not won back-to-back matches at tour-event level outside of Davis Cup.
But he stunned No.23 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and in-form Bulgarian 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov to become the first Portuguese man to progress to the fourth round of an Australian Open.
Medvedev needed just 35 minutes to take the opening set behind a solitary break of serve in the sixth game.
Finding it difficult to break the Russian, Borges turned to his drop shot to draw Medvedev forward and continually attacked the net.
Nerves came to the fore as both men traded double faults in the tiebreak, but Medvedev stuck his nose in front and clinched the second set with an unreturnable serve.
Borges lost four games on the bounce to open the third set but wasn't dying wondering, breaking back, saving two match points and breaking again to extend the match.
Medvedev quickly picked himself off the mat in the fourth set and proceeded to snuff out any hope of a comeback.
The 2021 US Open champion will next meet big-serving Pole Hubert Hurkacz, who downed 21-year-old Frenchman Arthur Cazaux 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 to earn a maiden quarter-final berth at Melbourne Park.
Cazaux, who defied his wildcard status to take down Danish rising star Holger Rune and Dutch No.28 seed Tallon Griekspoor in the tournament's first week, skipped out to a 0-3 lead in the first set.
Hurkacz broke back and did not give Cazaux another sniff on his serve for the rest of the match, coming up clutch in two tiebreaks before closing out the contest.
"I served well and he was serving well as well," the Pole said after the pair combined for 29 aces.
"I needed to stay aggressive and I'm really happy with today's performance."
The 26-year-old has not appeared beyond the fourth round of a major since his 2021 run to the semi-final at Wimbledon, where he shocked Roger Federer in the Swiss maestro's final grand slam appearance.
"I haven't been too many times at this stage of the grand slams," Hurkacz said.
"So obviously I'm super pumped and super excited."
On Monday evening, Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz confronts Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic in the featured match on Rod Laver Arena.
Olympic champion Alexander Zverev or Brit No.19 seed Cameron Norrie will await the winner.
Australian Associated Press
