Australian Open: Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas rivalry continues in Melbourne

With all sports thriving on gripping rivalries, the future of men's tennis looks to have an exciting future with Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The pair have long had a spiky relationship and, while there is respect and cordiality, an element of drama always appears when they meet.

On Friday, Russian second seed Medvedev beat fourth seed Tsitsipas 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-4 6-1 in their Australian Open semi-final.

It is the second successive year that Medvedev has beaten Tsitsipas in the Melbourne last four, extending his dominant record over the Greek to seven wins from their nine career meetings.

The opening three sets were high quality, packed with gripping rallies as each player tried to gain the upper hand.

But attention also turned to a dramatic outburst from Medvedev, who complained his opponent was receiving on-court coaching — which is not allowed — from his father Apostolos.

«I wasn't getting coaching,» insisted Tsitsipas. «It's funny. I don't pay attention to the stuff.

»I know players like to do this stuff to throw you off mentally. It could maybe be a tactic. It's alright. He's not the most mature person anyway."

Tsitsipas, 23, played at a high level in the opening two sets, with Medvedev's rant at umpire Jaume Campistol coming during the changeover after he lost serve to go 5-4 down in the second set.

Medvedev demanded the official issue a code violation to Tsitsipas, saying he thought his opponent might have been taking instructions from his father in Greek.

Afterwards, Medvedev said he wasn't accusing Tsitsipas of cheating.

«Not at all,» said Medvedev. «I got broken, I got a little bit mad. I thought the referee could do a little bit better with the crowd, just to say: 'Quiet, please'.

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