Key events
Medvedev after his huge win: “This one is going to stay in my memory.”
To the crowd, he says: “Honestly, guys, I wouldn’t be here. Thanks for staying. If I was a tennis fan, at 1 am, I would’ve went home to watch more on TV for 30 minutes and then go to bed. You are strong. Thank you.”
The Russian also speaks on how difficult it is to prepare when you don’t know when the match before you is going to end after the match before had a 35-minute tie-break: “The thing with tennis is that you never know when you have to warm up or eat. Here it was too early. So when I went on court I was already exhausted. He was better prepared in the beginning.”
Daniil Medvedev (3) beats Emil Ruusuvuori 3-6 6-7(1) 6-4 7-6(1) 6-0
He’s done it! Medvedev survives one of the craziest days of grand slam history! It was a lethal final set from him.
Medvedev needs one final push after taking the fifth game in the fifth set! This is also now officially the third latest match in Australian Open history.
Ruusuvuori is good to continue but he is obviously not as sharp as he was a couple of sets ago. The power in his shots is severely lacking and Medvedev is in the zone now. He goes 4-0 up without dropping a single point, closing out the game with some fantastic forehands.
We have a medical time out as Ruusuvuori is getting his right shoulder and arm massaged by someone from his team.
The world No 3’s first serve after getting it back is a double fault. Can you blame him given the time? But he makes up for it with two aces and he leads 3-0. He certainly has the advantage now.
Medvedev breaks and makes it 2-0 in the fifth! Is that the nail in Ruusuvuori’s coffin? The Finnish isn’t moving across the court fast enough.
Medvedev takes the first game in the fifth after Ruusuvuori nets a routine backhand.
Before we start the final set Medvedev gets told his laces are too long and he needs to tuck them in. Glad to know safety precautions remain the same as we head into hour five of this match.
Medvedev breezes through the tie-break 7-1! Ruusuvuori can’t handle these aces and we go to the fifth set.
It is 3.12am in Melbourne.
Medvedev gets to the tie-break with his 18th ace of the match! We’re 20 minutes away from the four-hour mark. Let’s see how this plays out.
Ruusuvuori learns from his opponent with a fantastic drop shot to make it 30-15 after a 27-shot rally. The Finnish takes the next point as well after Medvedev hits it long.
Medvedev with some great court coverage that forces Ruusuvuori to net a forehand to make it 40-30, but he returns a serve long and it’s 6-5 for Ruusuvuori. The Russian is really not happy with his coaching staff at the moment.
Medvedev holds! Ruusuvuori was two points away from winning this, but he cannot hold his nerve. His second serve is poor and the Russian breathes a sigh of relief.
WOW! Ruusuvuori looked so comfortable early on in this game, but all of a sudden, after some sloppy play, we’re at deuce. Ruusuvuori stuns though and makes it 5-4 in his favour after a fantastic shot. It’s a fantastic slice that skims just over the net to win him the game.
Medvedev threw his racquet in anger like a boomerang after that. The replay shows that he knocked down two of his water bottles in the process. We’re not bowling, unfortunately, and he doesn’t get points for that. Just a warning.
And we’re all tied at 4-4! Medvedev loses the break advantage after he nets the final shot. He was too indecisive on some of those points, choosing to not go for a final shot when he could of. He’s now yelling in anger at himself and/or his coaching staff. Tense stuff.
Medvedev look so determined right now. Not sure where this demeanour was two hours ago. But I digress. He goes up 4-3 in the set. It is that drop shot again that is really bailing him out combined with some strong serving. He’s up to 14 aces compared to Ruusuvuori’s zero.
Ruusuvuori is still in this set! It’s 3-2 to Medvedev now with the Finnish’s volleys carrying him through that game.
A double fault from Medvedev early on to make it 15-15! Yikes!
We get to deuce after a really auspicious moment. An awful drop shot from Medvedev is sent back by Ruusuvuori but the Russian’s volley is just enough to earn him the point. Ruusuvuori shows right after that he can play the same game with a speedy volley to take advantage.
We go back and forth for a bit until Medvedev takes the game with some really strong serving.
We get to deuce after a fantastic flick from Medvedev (very Nadal-esque!) in the third game. Once Ruusuvuori takes advantage, Medvedev forces a second deuce with, you guessed it, another drop shot. Ruusuvuori is staying so far back and he is stumbling to get on the end of those. But he takes the game to make it 2-1 after some good offensive play.
Medvedev takes the next game to make it 2-0 in the fourth set. He is relying on the drop shot here, which I think he is using because he feels as if he can’t get through Ruusuvuori any other way. The Finnish looks tired now though, and will obviously regret not wrapping this up sooner.
Medvedev breaks as he takes the first game of the fourth set! The world No 3 had a couple of great drop shots to really get Ruusuvuori moving around the court. The camera pans to the clock, and we’re officially at the three-hour mark.
It is 2.14am in the morning in Melbourne. Will be a long night if Medvedev makes a full comeback. Not that it already isn’t. If you have any thoughts on this match or any other of the shocking results that happened today, send me an email! Details are at the top of the blog.
Medvedev takes the third set! A nice rally at the end there that ends with Ruusuvuori hitting the net to give his opponent the set.
Ruusuvuori wins another game to make it 5-3 in the third set! A fantastic forehand was the highlight of that game. Medvedev almost broke himself with a double fault.
Thanks Daniel! Right, Medvedev looks in trouble here as Ruusuvuori takes the next game with relative ease, killing any momentum the world No 3 had. Pressure is really on now.
Right, my watch is over, so here’s Yara El-Shaboury to chill with you until the end – whenever that might be.
When I say Medvedev is better conditioned, I don’t mean that he trains harder or anything, just that he’s used to competing at this level, in these tournaments, for this length of time – and Ruusuvuori is not. I wonder if he might tank the rest of this set to be fresher for the fourth, but as I type, we find ourselves at deuce, Ruusuvuori does really well to make his opponent play one more ball and Medvedev, who was up 40-15, nets! And have a look! Medvedev, who won for straight and still lost the last set, nets again, cedes one of his two breaks, and as such this one is still alive! Ruusuvuori leads 6-3 7-6 2-4.
Ruusuvuori’s dropped a little here, missing shots he has’t until now and finding himself down 30-40. So he monsters a forehand, follows it with an ace … then nets, so we’re back to deuce. Medvedev, meanwhile, is doing a better job of controlling the rallies, a drop forcing his younger but perhaps less conditioned opponent to charge in only to net, and when he nets again, Medvedev has the double break at 4-1 – though still trails 2-0.
It felt like momentum had switched when Medvedev won four games on the spin last set, and he ended up losing it, so I’m reluctant to suppose similar now. But he holds easily, and has slipped into a more proactive style, which is working much better, and it’s now 3-0 in the third.
Better from Medvedev, up 0-15 then inciting Ruusuvuori to go long. A drop backed by a volley, followed by a netted forehand, make 30-all, but a canny lob demands a backhand overhead, and it drops into the net; break point Medvedev, who’s 2/9 so far … and a double, Ruusuvuori’s first of the match, hands it over! The world number three is improving.
Up 30-15, Medvedev doubles and winds up at deuce, sent hurtling from corner to corner in the process of losing his advantage. But he eventually closes out with an ace and forehand winner, so now trails Rusuvuori 3-6 (1)6-7 1-1.
Yup, more of the same: Ruusuvuori holds for 1-0 and doesn’t look likely to disappear. Can Medvedev play well enough to win three sets straight? On the face of things, no, because his opponent looks so calm, but once the finish line appears in view, if it does, who knows what’ll be?
Respect to Ruusuvuori, who had to hang about doing nothing while Medvedev got treatment, then just carried on doing what he’s been doing: outplaying the third-best player in the world like it’s regular gear.
Ruusuvuori only needs one! He sends a forehand deep, Medvedev nets, and he can’t find an answer to the power-hitting being sent his way off both wings.
Medvedev wins a point, but Ruusuvuori just monsters him again, sending him nashing towards the forehand side in order to smite a backhand winner for 6-1. He has five points for a 2-0 lead against the number three seed!
Ooooh yeah! Medvedev grunts away, but a backhand near to the side, then a brutal forehand and deft volley make 4-0 and double mini-break … make that a triple! He leads 5-0 and Medvedev has barely featured int his breaker, not because he’s playing poorly but because his opponent is carpeing the diem.
Medvedev is back on his feet so and here comes that second-set breaker, seven minutes after we reached six-all; who’ll get themselves going again first? Er, it’s Ruusuvuori! Huge forehand return, huge forehand, drive-backhand winner. Nice! That’s the mini-break, and he quickly consolidates for 3-0, showing little emotion. He wants this, and thinks he should have it.
Victoria Azarenka (18) beats Clara Tauson 6-4 3-6 6-2
She stayed calmer and more focused, so moves on to meet Ostapennko next. That should be good.
Eeesh, two errors from Ruusuvuori turn 40-15 into deuce, and he’ll be desperate not to lose a set like this. So he unleashes forehands, makes advantage, and closes out – well done him – so here comes the breaker. Or not! Medvedev has a blister on his foot and calls the trainer, explaining that he didn’t want to do it before his opponent served for the set; what a nice man. The latest finish in Australia, we learn while we wait, is 4,34am, when Hewitt beat Baghdatis 4-6 7-5 7-5 6-7(4) 6-3 in 2008.
Medvedev holds for 6-5, and who even knows when this match’ll finish? It’s just after 1am now, and three more hour-long sets – we’ve been going 108 minutes so far – takes us to a very silly time.
There’s now only one other match in progress and – I say this advisedly – it looks like it’s nearly over, Azarenka 4-1 up on Tauson in the third, who belts a forehand wide to cede the double break. I’m afraid Tauson seems to have mislaid her belief.
