Men’s fourth seed Daniil Medvedev faced the prospect of a shock exit in the fourth round of the Australian Open, before prevailing in a gritty five-setter against Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic.

In contrast, fifth-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas encountered little trouble in his 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 win over Sweden’s Mikael Ymer.

Medvedev’s Russian countryman and seventh seed, Andrey Rublev, beat veteran Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3.

Medvedev appeared headed for a comfortable victory when he won the opening two sets 6-3, 6-3.

But the match turned on its head when 28th seed Krajinovic levelled on the scoreboard by claiming the third and fourth sets 6-4, 6-3.

Medvedev seemed to be in all sorts of trouble at this point of the match. He required treatment for a back complaint on court, while he also berated his coach sitting up in the player box amid the empty stands inside Rod Laver Arena.

But he composed himself emotionally ahead of the fifth set and did not drop a game to close out his win 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 6-0 in three hours and six minutes.

Medvedev, who reached the US Open final in 2019, has equalled his best finish at Melbourne Park by reaching the fourth round.

He will meet unseeded American Mackenzie McDonald in the last 16.

McDonald matched his best result at a major when he beat South African Lloyd Harris 7-6 (9/7), 6-1, 6-4.

McDonald is a former top 60 player, but his ranking fell to number 272 last year after he was sidelined for seven months by a hamstring injury.

His ranking is back up to number 192 on the ATP standings.

Tsitsipas, a semi-finalist in Melbourne in 2019, was playing two days after his thrilling five-set win over Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis.

He needed only an hour and 34 minutes to dispense of Ymer to book a date with either ninth seed Matteo Berrettini of Italy or 19th-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov.

Rublev made it through to the fourth round for the second consecutive year courtesy of his win over Lopez.

He will next face Norway’s 24th seed Casper Ruud, who advanced with 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 win over Moldovan Radu Albot.

ABC/AP



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