The fun begins at the Australian Open. Daniil Medvedev is among those who confirm their favorite status and step by step approach the main stages. But the presence of Portuguese Nuno Borges in the second week greatly surprised most tennis fans. Many people have probably never heard of such a player.

To Borges’ credit, he proved that it was no coincidence that he made it this far up the grid. At one point Medvedev simply floated, but pulled himself together in time and put the no-name in his place.

Passing opponent

Medvedev made fans nervous in the early stages of the Australian Open. The second round match with Emil Ruusuvuori lasted more than four hours. At the same time, Dana had to fight back from 0:2 in sets. But in the game with Felix Auger-Alassime, the Russian tennis player looked good, without losing a single game to the Canadian.

In the fourth round, the lot was favorable to our player. His opponent was the Portuguese Nuno Borges, who occupies a modest 69th place in the ATP rankings. By the age of 26, this athlete had not achieved any significant success in tennis. For a long time, he played in the US NCAA student league for the University of Mississippi, where he received a degree in kinesiology, the science of human movement.

Now the Portuguese prefers to compete in Challengers. In Melbourne, Nuno played the tournament of his life, knocking out two strong tennis players along the way. Borges’ victims included 23rd seed Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina and 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov. The victory over Medvedev could even claim to be the sensation of the year, but there were practically no real prerequisites for such a result.

Nuno Borges / Photo: © Cameron Spencer / Staf / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Problems out of the blue

The weather in Melbourne was sunny, but not too hot – comfortable for playing tennis. Medvedev was also lucky: the shadow from the stands at Rod Laver Arena began exactly where he was receiving, six meters from the baseline.

The starting segment was quite routine. The Russian won with a break in the sixth game. Daniil’s problems began in the second set, when Nunu saw through the tactics of our tennis player. He began to use shortened punches, forcing Medvedev to come out of the shadows more often. High speed and good physical fitness allowed our player to save plays, but not always.

In the fourth game, he literally made the fans’ mouths open with a spectacular tweener, which, unfortunately, ended unsuccessfully for him. Constant changes in the direction of attack allowed Borges to reach the tiebreaker, but at the decisive moment Daniil rallied and took the second game – 7:6 (7:4).

In the third set everything was in the hands of the Russian player. He could have easily sent the Portuguese home in the ninth game, but instead he created problems for himself out of the blue. Unnecessary double faults and lapses in concentration meant Borges turned 2-5 into 7-5. Daniil became nervous and began to communicate in a raised voice with the coach. Everyone knows perfectly well how this can end for a Russian.

Fortunately, this time everything worked out. Our player avoided an emotional breakdown, was fresh and motivated to win. Daniel literally went out to destroy his opponent. In ten minutes, he took the first three games, and during the entire set he gave up only two plays on his serve. The final result of the game was 6:1.

In the quarterfinals, Medvedev will face the Polish tennis player Hubert Hurkacz, who is seeded ninth in Melbourne.