Daniil Medvedev said he had to take the “aggressive” route as he was running out of gas in his Australian Open 2024 semi-final against Alexander Zverev. On Friday, January 26, Medvedev bounced back from 2 sets down to beat his German opponent 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 at the Rod Laver Arena.

Medvedev fought hard for 4 hours and 18 minutes before he eventually came up trumps. It was also the second instance of Medvedev making a comeback after dropping 2 sets in the ongoing hard court major.

In the second round, Medvedev had to play out of skins to beat Emil Ruusuvuori 3-6, 6-7 (1-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), 6-0.

During his match against Zverev, Medvedev had to play long rallies and he felt the heat. In the first set, the duo were involved in a 51-shot rally and the long rallies continued even in the next sets.

“I was a little bit lost but then in the third set I kept saying to myself, ‘if I lose this match then I want to be proud of myself’. If I lose, I lose, but I won so I am very proud,” Medvedev said after the match.

“In the third set I felt like I was tired physically. I knew I couldn’t run for 40 shots like in the first set, so I said ‘let’s get more aggressive’,” he stated.

‘Today was my day’

With his backs against the wall, Medvedev held on to his chances by winning the tie-breakers in the third and fourth sets. In the fifth and final set, Medvedev earned a service break to edge past Zverev, who went into the match high on confidence after beating 2-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz.

“I started to serve better and then at five-all in the (fourth-set) tiebreak I got a little lucky – the slice was intentional but the drop shot (return) with backspin into the wind â€æ was not. Sometimes you get lucky, and today was my day,” Medvedev added.

Medvedev will next be up against Jannik Sinner, who knocked World No.1 Novak Djokovic, also ending his 33-match winning streak at Melbourne Park.