Daniil Medvedev returns to Australian Open quarterfinal, ends historic run from Nuno Borges

Daniil Medvedev edged past Nuno Borges to return to the Australian Open quarterfinals, ending the Portuguese star’s historic run, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-1 in three hours and seven minutes.

The two-time finalist endured a third-round exit Down Under 12 months ago—causing him to briefly fall out of the Top 10 for the first time since 2019—but has since reasserted himself among the Top 4 players, and surges into the last eight having won nine of his last 10 sets.

"Actually before this match I was feeling 100%, but he made me run," Medvedev said on court. "I was pretty dead, to be honest, but by missing too much, I was able to recover for the fourth set, so I was able to raise my energy level. Could I have done it in the third? I don't know. So now, I'm again pretty tired, but one day off and I should be fine."

Medvedev, who was in good spirits after the match, walking Jim Courier through the evolution of his return stance for a delighted Rod Laver Arena crowd, was very nearly out of the tournament in the second round after a late-night encounter with Emil Ruusuvuori saw him fall behind two sets to love on RLA. But the former No. 1 enjoyed much more control in his return to the stadium on Monday against Borges, who was in the midst of a career-best run.

The 26-year-old from Maia spent four years playing college tennis for Mississippi State University and was the NCAA singles finalist in his senior year, but only began to make major in-roads on the ATP tour in 2022, when he made his Grand Slam debut at that year’s Roland Garros.

Peaking at No. 63 in the rankings last spring, Borges ended last season with a Challenger victory in his hometown, setting the stage for a triumphant week in which he would become the first player from Portugual to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open. After planting No. 23 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the second round, he earned one of the biggest upsets of the tournament by knocking out No. 13 seed Grigor Dimitrov in four sets. Dimitrov had begun 2024 with a victory in Brisbane and came to the Australian Open as a dark horse contender.

Medvedev nonetheless proved a distinctly different challenge as the No. 3 seed nabbed the lone break of the opening set and served out a marathon ninth game by forcing a backhand error from Borges.

The second set appeared poised to move in a similar direction when Medvedev earned another break at three games apiece, but this time Borges broke straight back off a double fault and moved within a game of leveling the match with a forehand winner.

Medvedev twice served to stay in the set, holding at love to force a tiebreaker, which went his way after an exchange of minibreaks.

A backhand winner put the Russian up by two sets and a break, but Borges made a brave last stand, breaking Medvedev twice from 2-5 down and saving two match points on his own serve to ultimately force a fourth set behind a barrage of phenomenal shotmaking.

"The third set was tough, physically, because he was playing very aggressively," Medvedev explained. "Like, as soon as I would hit one shot in the rally that wasn't deep enough, he would just go full power. It was pretty impressive, so the end of the third set, I missed too much. But after the third set, the only thing that was on my mind was how the third set was there, I could not change it. I just hoped it would not be five sets and I'm happy it was not five sets!"

Medvedev righted the ship early in the fourth, easing through the first three games and bettering his third-set lead by nabbing a double break for 5-1.

Serving for the match a second time, Medvedev would make no mistake, earning a third match point over 33 minutes after the first two went begging, one he converted as Borges erred long off the forehand side.

Standing between Medvedev and a third Australian Open semifinal will be No. 9 seed Hubert Hurkacz, who ended the run of Holger Rune's conqueror Arthur Cazaux in straight sets.