It was billed as a clash of mighty opposites. The gangly awkwardness of Daniil Medvedev, with his wiry frame, unconventional style and lack of clay-court pedigree, against the natural elegance of Stefanos Tsitsipas, all flowing locks and racket-as-paintbrush artistry, a man born and raised on the red stuff.
For a set and a half, these banalities were borne out. Tsitsipas, as is his wont, started the night session at a lick. Medvedev, meanwhile, looked more like the player who had failed to win a match at the French Open in four attempts than the accomplished dirt-baller of the past fortnight. When he fell a set and a break behind in just 39 minutes, you feared the worst.
Yet the Russian world No 2 has a tennis IQ few can match, and as he gradually added extra layers to his game – drop shots, slices, vastly improved defensive play – so Tsistipas was forced out of his comfort zone. He even came within a point of levelling the match at one set all, Tsitsipas weathering a baseline storm before clipping the net with a forehand to draw an error from Medvedev that saved the second of two set points. The Greek eventually ran out a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 winner to reach his third consecutive grand slam semi-final, but there was not a paintbrush in sight. Tsitsipas knew he had been in a match.
“I was playing against one of the best guys on the tour and I had to keep up with his intensity and elevate my game during the entire match,” said the fifth seed after only his second victory in eight meetings with Medvedev. “I felt like I was playing really good, giving him not that much space to do things, and I think my performance was one of the best this week.”
Tsitsipas won because he played an astute match tactically, executed his game plan with aplomb, and stayed mentally strong at the key moments. As the former French Open champion Mats Wilander observed, he exploited Medvedev’s defensive limitations on the backhand side and varied his serving patterns to keep the Russian guessing. Crucially, he was also teak tough on break points, saving all but two of the 10 he faced.
There were some bizarre moments. Serving at 4-4 in the second set, Medvedev became distracted by an off-court noise. After informing chair umpire Nico Helwerth of the problem, he dealt with it himself, yelling an appeal for quiet down a courtside tunnel. Medvedev became involved in another conversation with Helwerth when serving to stay in the match at 4-5 in the third set. As he threw up the ball to serve, the electronic scoreboard above the court briefly flicked to live footage of his motion. Having missed his first serve, he appealed in vain for another before telling Helwerth: “If I lose the match it’s your fault.”
Strangest of all was Medvedev’s decision to hit an underarm serve and then follow it to the net on match point. Unperturbed, Tsitsipas simply moved forward and put away a backhand. “I felt like there was something coming up, so at that point I think I got prepared for it,” said the Greek.
Tsistipas, who is bidding to make his first final at a major, will meet Alexander Zverev in the last four after the German sixth seed earlier defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.
“It is very nice to be in the semi-finals but just being there doesn’t satisfy me,” said Zverev after his win over the 46th-ranked Spaniard. “I am playing pretty OK and hope to play the same way, and even better, in the semi-finals.”