SYDNEY, January 22. /TASS/. Russia’s top tennis player Daniil Medvedev has reached the quarterfinals of the 2024 Australian Open after defeating Nuno Borges of Portugal on Monday.
In their Round 4 match, which lasted for some three hours, the 3rd-seeded Russian took down his unseeded Portuguese opponent in four sets 6-3; 7-6 (7-4); 5-7; 6-1.
Medvedev, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, will now face Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in the quarterfinals.
The 9th-seeded Polish player reached the quarterfinals of this year’s opening Grand Slam tournament after defeating French wildcard Arthur Cazaux 7-6 ((8-6); 7-6 (7-3); 6-4 on Monday.
Medvedev and Hurkacz have met five times in the past with the Pole winning three of these head-to-head matchups. Speaking after his win on Monday over Borges, Medvedev said he expected a tough battle against Hurkacz.
"Tough opponent for me for sure," the Russian said during his post-match interview speaking about his upcoming quarterfinals match. "In my opinion, he serves bigger than many guys. I would compare it to something like [Australia’s] Nick Kyrgios, very precise and at the same time strong."
"He [Hurkacz] is top two or three serves on tour. It's hard to return him. I'm going to have my eyes prepared and try to catch everything I can on Wednesday," Medvedev added.
Medvedev, 27, is currently third in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Rankings List. In 2022, the top Russian racket was ranked the No. 1 tennis player in the world for 16 weeks. He is the 2021 US Open Champion and has 20 ATP tournament titles under his belt. He won five of these 20 titles just in 2023 alone. Also, in 2021, he won the Davis Cup as well as the ATP Cup playing for the Russian national team.
The 2024 Australian Open tournament is being played on hard courts at Melbourne Park on January 14-28 and has a purse of $57.8 mln in prize money up for grabs. The opening tournament of the annual Grand Slam series in Australia marks its 112th edition this year. Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka are the reigning Australian Open champions in men’s and women’s singles, respectively.
Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.
Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022 to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also cancelling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.
On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.
However, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) allowed tennis players from Russia and Belarus to continue participating in WTA and ATP tournaments, but only under a neutral status.