'He unleashed': Medvedev's frustration with Aus Open crowd grows
Australian Open commentator Jim Courier speculated tournament favourite Daniil Medvedev may have more to say about crowd behaviour during the Russian's quarter-final match.
The world No.2 and top seed for the tournament faced Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime, falling behind two sets as the ninth-seed came out firing.
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Amid the frustration, Medvedev continued to deal with a slightly antagonistic crowd on Rod Laver Arena as home fans threw their support behind Auger-Aliassime in the wake of Medvedev's comments after his win over Nick Kyrgios.
Though the quarter-final was a far cry from the carnival-like atmosphere of his second-round match against Kyrgios, noise and cheering between serves seemed to rattle the Russian.
Medvedev at one point seemed to sarcastically applaud along with the crowd after an unforced error of his handed his opponent the first set.
Courier pointed out that Medvedev considered fans applauding an error to be in slightly poor taste, adding that the Russian star had shown he would not be afraid to call out the behaviour of fans.
“Don’t be surprised if he addresses them directly,” Courier said during the match.
“He is not afraid to go head-on with hecklers at all. We have seen that in the past.
“When he played (Nick) Kyrgios here, he came prepared for that. He knew that he was going into hostile territory and he didn’t look up at anyone the whole match.
“He kept it all in. He did his job. Once the match was over he unleashed.”
Things didn't get any easier for Medvedev in the second set, with Auger-Aliassime gaining the ascendency after a first set tiebreaker.
Tsitsipas awaits challenger in Australian Open semi-final
Stefanos Tsitsipas maintained his perfect record in Grand Slam quarterfinals, beating No. 11-seeded Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 Wednesday to reach the last four of the Australian Open.
The 23-year-old, No. 4-ranked Tsitsipas improved to 5-0 at this stage of a major. It's the semifinals he's yet to master, winning just one — at Roland Garros last year — from four so far.
He'll next player either Daniil Medvedev, who made his Grand Slam breakthrough when he won last year's U.S. Open title, or No. 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime. No. 2 Medvedev and Auger-Aliassime were meeting later Wednesday in a night match.
Tsitsipas didn't face a break point and converted all four he got on Sinner's serve in the 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.”
With AP
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