I wasn't in the zone says Medvedev after defeat by Korda

MELBOURNE : Former world number one Daniil Medvedev said his own performance was not good enough in Friday's 7-6(7) 6-3 7-6(4) third round loss to American Sebastian Korda at the Australian Open, adding that he was struggling to get over the hump in close matches.

The Russian seventh seed, who reached the final of the tournament in 2021 and 2022, was unable to cope with the 22-year-old Korda's game in the defeat at the Rod Laver Arena.

"Matches like this are tough because what I can say is that he played his good level, maybe a little bit better than his good level. I played not at all bad, but just a little bit below what I had to do to win," Medvedev told reporters.

"That's tough because probably that's something about confidence, like being in the zone, and I wasn't there tonight. Like all the close points, I didn't win that many with like those beautiful rallies. He was winning a little bit more...

"I think it was a top match where he was just better than me. I won many matches like this. Right now I'm struggling a little bit to win these kind of matches against opponents that can play a good level. That's what I have to rediscover."

As an example of his current inability to grind out hard-fought wins, Medvedev pointed to his victories against Nick Kyrgios, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Stefanos Tsitsipas at last year's tournament, which all came despite him dropping a set.

When asked what had been going wrong, Medvedev added, "...mostly the result. Even if we take last year, so basically the matches against Nick, Felix, and Stefanos, kind of tough matches. You know, you cannot really explain it.

"If we talk point by point, yes, this point I won, that point I won, I won the matches. It's just I was, like, there on the court. I