Daniil Medvedev, Rafael Nadal advance in Australian Open

Melbourne, February 13

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Daniil Medvedev finally worked out how to a win a five-setter. The fourth seed was 0-6 in Grand Slam matches that went to five sets, and his Australian Open third-round match against No. 28-seeded Filip Krajinovic looked like it was going all the way.

After some angry outbursts from an increasingly animated and chatty Medvedev directed at his box, his coach, Gilles Cervara, got up and left.

“He said just before leaving that he’s sure I’m going to win the match,” Medvedev explained in his on-court interview after Saturday’s 6-3 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-0 win. Some pundits, including John McEnroe, are tipping the 25-year-old Russian to make his Grand Slam breakthrough in Australia. Medvedev, on a 17-match winning streak, said while that’s nice to hear, he’s got a long way to go. He’ll have to face unseeded American Mackenzie McDonald in the next round. After that could be a quarterfinal against No. 7 Andrey Rublev, while No. 2 Rafael Nadal is also in his half of the draw.— AP/PTI