The third seed Daniil Medvedev survived a scare at the Australian Open as he came from two sets down to beat Emil Ruusuvuori in a match that finished at 3.40am local time in Melbourne.
Medvedev looked like he might have been in bed much earlier as the unseeded Finnish player took control. But the Russian showed his fighting spirit to ensure that it turned into an early morning as he battled back to win 3-6, 6-7 (1-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), 6-0 with sunrise two hours away.
Having started the match at 11.15pm, the contest lasted for four hours and 23 minutes and finished with a sparse, hardy crowd watching on at Rod Laver Arena. Medvedev walked on to court after Elena Rybakina lost the longest ever tie-breaker in a women’s grand slam event, 22-20 to Anna Blinkova.
“Honestly guys, I would not be here,” the Russian told the crowd afterwards. “Thanks for staying. That was tough, tough, tough. If I came as a tennis fan, at 1am I would have been like: ‘OK, let’s go home and catch the end of the match on the TV.’ I guess, thanks guys. You are strong. Strong!”
And so day five of the Australian Open finished on a Friday, even with the extra Sunday added to the start of the tournament and the first round being split over three days. It was the latest finish so far this year, but not close to the tournament record. Andy Murray finished off Thanasi Kokkinakis just after 4am last year in a second-round match that lasted five hours, 45 minutes.
And that was only good enough for second place. The latest-finishing match in grand slam history ended with Lleyton Hewitt beating Marcos Baghdatis at 4.34am in 2008.
The late start may have played a part in Medvedev’s sluggish opening as he began the match by losing his opening service game and found himself 3-0 down in quick time. After 16 unforced errors, the two-time Melbourne finalist was swiftly a set down.
Medvedev required treatment on a blister in the second set and, despite showing his battling qualities, he eventually went down in the tie-break and was facing an early exit in Melbourne.
However, thanks to Ruusuvuori’s indifferent service game – he sent down a double fault when break-point down in the third game of the third set – Medvedev began to fight back before claiming the set.
The 27-year-old then broke Ruusuvuori at the start of the fourth, only to hand it back and receive a code violation for smashing a racket. Medvedev then dominated the tie-break to level things up before wearing down his opponent – and the crowd – as time ticked past 3am. He eventually sealed victory with a 6-0 final set as Ruusuvuori struggled with shoulder problems.
Medvedev will next face Felix Auger-Aliassime, who beat Hugo Grenier 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.