Australian Open 2021 - 'A tennis nation' - Daniil Medvedev hoping for 'dream' all-Russian final

ByEurosport

Updated 17/02/2021 at 07:46 GMT

Daniil Medvedev is dreaming of an all-Russian final after beating Andrey Rublev in straight sets in the quarter-finals. The 2021 Australian Open is live on Eurosport. Watch every match live and ad-free on the Eurosport app and eurosport.co.uk. You can download the Eurosport app for iOS and Android now. The opening Grand Slam of the season in Melbourne runs from February 8 until February 21.

Fourth seed Daniil Medvedev says he is hoping for an all-Russian final after his straight sets victory over compatriot Andrey Rublev, extending his winning streak to 19 matches.

Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev will meet world number one Novak Djokovic in the other semi-final on Thursday, with the prospect of an all-Russian men's final looming on Sunday.

"It's unbelievable, I'm so happy for Aslan, he's made history. I don't know what he did in the pandemic, probably just worked hard I guess," Medvedev said of 114th-ranked Karatsev, who at 27 is in his debut Grand Slam main draw campaign.

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"If we have an all-Russian final, it's going to be a dream come true, but we both have tough matches. It's so good for Russian tennis.

Hopefully people will love tennis more and more, give kids more tennis and we are going to have a tennis nation.

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It was Rublev's fourth straight defeat to Medvedev, who has not lost a match since October.

Fourth seed Medvedev had won all his previous matches against Rublev in straight sets and it was no different at a scorching Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday.

"Super tough, if you come to Australia and it's 40 each day, it's tough but you get used to it but we've had a couple of days when it was 20 degrees," Medvedev said.

"We had some unbelievable rallies, I'm one of the first players to make Andrey so tired... It's hard to play (a friend) but we're all so competitive, just need to win, get to that Grand Slam semi-final.

"That was one of my best matches ... I beat him in three sets not even with a tiebreak so I'm really happy."

Highlights | Andrey Rublev - Daniil Medvedev

ATP Finals winner Medvedev raised his game during the important points and sealed the contest with a forehand winner to set up a last-four meeting against either second-seeded Spaniard Rafa Nadal or fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.

Additional reporting from Reuters

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