Australian Open: Daniil Medvedev beats Maxime Cressy to reach quarter-finals

Daniil Medvedev demonstrated again why he is the man to beat at the Australian Open with a battling win over Maxime Cressy in the Melbourne heat.

The Russian second seed reached the quarter-finals with a 6-2 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 victory over the American.

Medvedev was frustrated by 24-year-old Cressy's resistance, needing his ninth break point to finally take control of the fourth set and the match.

«I've played harder matches but this was long. It wasn't easy,» he said.

«The fourth set was crazy. Every time I had a break point he would have second serves and hit the line. I couldn't return them.»

The 25-year-old goes on to face Canadian ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who saw off 27th seed Marin Cilic of Croatia in his fourth-round match.

Auger-Aliassime, who knocked out Britain's Dan Evans in the previous round, won 2-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 7-6 (7-4).

Medvedev, who won his maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open in September, is the highest seed in the men's singles because of Novak Djokovic's absence.

The Serb world number one was not allowed to play at Melbourne Park after he was deported from Australia because he was unvaccinated for Covid-19.

Medvedev dropped a set in his second-round match against home favourite Nick Kyrgios, but this battle against world number 70 Cressy left him even more frustrated.

After winning the first two sets, it seemed Medvedev was heading towards the quarter-finals when he led by a mini-break at 4-3 in the third-set tie-break.

But Cressy swung momentum back his way by winning both of the following points on Medvedev's serve.

The serve-and-volleying American put away a forehand at the net and then thumped a blistering winner past the Russian on his way to forcing a fourth set.

For the first time since