WATCH: Daniil Medvedev rages into Australian Open final after launching umpire tirade
Daniil Medvedev will attempt to stop Rafael Nadal winning a record 21st Slam as he also bids to overtake Novak Djokovic as the World number one after reaching the Australian Open final.
Two titans of the next generation went toe-to-toe in an evenly-contested and tense match as World number two Medvedev overcame World number four Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to set up an enticing Australian Open final against Rafael Nadal.
The first set was taken all the way to a tie-break after some excellent tennis from both. Whilst it was Tsitsipas who possibly edged the first set, Medvedev rallied to take the tie-break 7-5.
After an excellent start to the game, it took until the second set and the 14th game of the match for either player to win a break when Tsitsipas broke Medvedev’s serve.
After some excellent tennis on Tsitsipas’ end and some errors on Medvedev’s, tempers erupted after Tsitsipas took the second set to level the score.
Medvedev launched a belligerent rant towards the chair umpire during a changeover after he refused to caution Tsitsipas for a coaching violation. Medvedev felt Tsitsipas’ father Apostolos was coaching his son from the side-lines.
The Russian began his haranguing by asking the umpire “are you mad? His father can talk every point, are you stupid?”
He then continued to repeat his grievances, before eventually bellowing “answer my question” and “look at me when I’m talking to you!”
The rant ended with Medvedev questioning how an umpire “can be so bad in a semi-final of a Grand Slam?”
As a result, Medvedev received a warning for dissent. However, Tsitsipas was eventually given a caution after his father was adjudged to have been coaching him.
Medvedev regained his composure and settled his frustrations to storm the final two sets in dominant fashion, although he would later say he regrets his antics.
This win means Medvedev has now impressively won 20 of his last 25 meetings against top ten players. The Russian has beaten Zverev five times, Schwartzman four times, Tsitsipas, Berrettini and Djokovic twice and Nadal, Thiem, Hurkacz, Ruud and Auger-Aliassime all once.
20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal beat Matteo Berretini in the other side of the draw to set up an enticing final with extremely high stakes.
Should Nadal win, he will become the first player ever to win 21 Grand Slam titles, pipping fellow competitors Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer to such a historic achievement.
However, should Medvedev win a second Slam title he would over take Djokovic as the World number one after the Serbian was deported just one day before the ‘Happy Slam’ began.
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