WHAT HAPPENED: When Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev were juniors, exasperated screams frequently emanated from both sides of the court when they met.
“We were both nuts,” Medvedev would later recall, when asked about playing against Rublev in the junior days.
“Both of us were crazy on court, destroying the racquets, complaining,” Rublev told reporters at the 2020 US Open.
On Wednesday in Flushing Meadows, the pair were at it again, contesting their eighth career meeting as professionals, with a semifinal spot in the 2023 US Open on the line. Their rivalry isn’t quite as unhinged as it was in the juniors, but nevertheless it packs a punch.
The knockout blows were all Medvedev’s as the 2021 US Open champion brushed off an early deficit and notched a complicated 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 triumph on a hot and humid afternoon in New York City, to set a semifinal with either top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz or 12th-seeded Alexander Zverev.
The scoreline of the pair’s latest tussle looks simple, but Wednesday’s extreme heat coupled with Rublev’s inspired tennis made it a difficult day at the office for the world No.3.
How did Medvedev assess his compatriot’s refuse-to-lose attitude over the course of the gritty affair that was full of lead changes and brave, determined tennis?
“I know he never gives up,” Medvedev said. “But he knows I never do, either.”
8th-seeded Rublev has reached three major quarterfinals in a single season for the first time in his career this year, but the 25-year-old couldn’t achieve the semifinal breakthrough that he craves. He fell to 0-4 in US Open quarterfinals, and has not won a single set in any of the four.
It has been a Sisyphean struggle for hard-hitting Rublev in the late stages at the Slams, just as it was against Medvedev on Wednesday. Rublev led by a break in the first set and twice in the third; he battled from a break down to draw level in the second, but always the specter of intractable Medvedev lingered over the run of play.
The former champion, who improved his lifetime record at the US Open to a sparkling 28-5, refused to wilt, as he pushed through a taxing 77-minute third set, converting his fifth match point to end the contest in two hours and 48 minutes.
It was a grueling day for both, and more so for Medvedev, who saw the doctor on court at two different junctures of match, but in the end the victory was a testament to his will as he fought through stress and fatigue to reach his fourth US Open semifinal in the past five years.
“The only good thing I see in these conditions is that both suffer,” Medvedev told ESPN’s Darren Cahill after the match, before telling him he would soon be headed to a cold shower. “It’s tough for both of us. There were some ups and downs, but that’s so normal.”
WHAT IT MEANS: Medvedev broke Rublev’s serve nine times on Wednesday, raising his percentage of return games won to 49%. He leads all men in that category at this year’s US Open, and ranks far above the tournament average of 22%.
MATCH POINT: Rublev falls to 0-9 in major quarterfinals, and 21-8 overall at the US Open.
