Daniil Medvedev delivered an outstanding performance to overcome world No 1 Jannik Sinner in an enthralling five-set quarter-final clash at Wimbledon.
The world No 5 battled past the Australian Open champion 6-7(7), 6-4, 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3 on Centre Court in a contest lasting just under four hours.
Medvedev‘s triumph ends a five-match losing streak against Sinner to take his record against the Italian to 7-5. The 28-year-old had lost the pair’s two previous meetings this year, including the Australian Open final — where he led 2-0 in sets.
The 2021 US Open winner has dealt Sinner just his fourth defeat of 2024 and is the first player to beat the 22-year-old star before the semi-finals of a tournament this year.
Sinner looked to be unwell and received a medical timeout in the third set, but Medvedev handled the situation impressively, and also responded strongly after the two sets he lost.
Medvedev has become just the fourth player to record three or more victories over ATP world No 1’s at Grand Slams since 2000. Tennis greats Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka are the other three men to achieve the feat.
The Russian’s other wins over top-ranked opponents at Majors were against Djokovic in the 2021 US Open final and Carlos Alcaraz in the 2023 US Open semi-finals. Medvedev is a former world No 1 himself, having first climbed to the peak of the ATP Rankings in February 2022.
In his on-court interview, Medvedev said: “I knew if I want to beat Jannik it needs to be a tough match. He’s not anymore a guy you can beat easy. I felt at one moment he wasn’t feeling good but I knew it could get away.
“He started playing better. I’m happy I managed to still stay at a high level. It was great points and a great match. I’m happy to win and I’m looking forward.
“It’s actually very tough. One moment I could feel he didn’t move that well. It’s always tricky because you wanna play more points to make him suffer a bit more… in a good way.
“At the same time, you know that he at one point is gonna say ‘okay, I can’t run anymore. So I’m gonna go full power.’ And that’s what he did.
“He had set points to win the 3rd set. In a way, I’d maybe prefer to not have this situation. Everything is well when it ends well. So I’m pretty happy.”
Medvedev will face world No 3 and reigning Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals in a rematch of last year’s last four clash, where the Spaniard prevailed in straight sets.
