Russian fans dreamed of a Russian final taking place at the Masters in Madrid. After Rublev sensationally passed Alcaraz, it seemed that the matter was small.
In the confrontation between Daniil Medvedev and Jiri Legechka, all the trump cards were in the hands of our player, but trouble came from unexpected places.
Danya was forced to give up the fight after the first set, making all the fans worry.
Rare meeting
The week in the capital of Spain was promising for our guys: three reached the 1/8 finals and even despite Khachanov’s defeat from Sinner, Rublev’s success covered everything. After Andrey’s victory over Alcaraz, the Russian final no longer seemed something fantastic.
Of the top 4 in the ATP rankings, only Medvedev remained in the game, and the match against the Czech Legecka could well have become a passing stage. Although Jiri managed to beat Nadal with the full support of the Spanish fans, this should not have been misleading – Rafa’s form is far from ideal.
There was too little data to make predictions for the upcoming quarterfinals, since Medvedev met his 22-year-old opponent only once and on the grass at Wimbledon. Last summer, Danya defeated Legechka on refusal with a score of 6:4, 6:2. As it turned out, there was a certain symbolism in this.
Long break
Our compatriot is traditionally unpredictable on clay – not the best surface for Medvedev. But in the Spanish capital Danya is doing very well, showing better performance with each match.
The fourth racket of the world started the meeting with Legechka, as well as the previous game against Bublik, confidently. However, a good game on his serve was followed by a couple of games when Danya could not catch even one play on the return. At the same time, Medvedev periodically worried about his leg, touching his thigh and groin area.
Having taken the fifth game, the Russian asked for a medical break, but did not remain on the bench, but went under the stands. Legechka was forced to wait so long that, to maintain his tone, he began to run circles on his half of the court
It took Dana more than 10 minutes, after which he lightly jogged back to the audience, grabbed his racket and went to the reception. Feel better. He hardly made any accelerations anymore, tried to minimize movements and generally worked in energy-saving mode.
During the next break, the physiotherapist worked with Medvedev again, only now on the court. In a dialogue with the doctor, our player admitted that, despite the improvement, he was scared of his condition.
The main question now was simple – either the Russian would run away, or everything would be over. The key episode occurred in the ninth game, when Medvedev fought off two break points from his opponent, but still gave up serve.
Legechka calmly realized the opportunity to close the set, which gave Dana the impetus to make a decision. The Russian demonstratively made a short jerk, grabbed his thigh again and headed towards the Czech to give up the fight.
The quarterfinals turned out to be completely different from what we expected, but that doesn’t matter now. The main thing is that Medvedev can recover to compete at Roland Garros. Perhaps it was the thoughts of the upcoming Grand Slam tournament that stopped Danya in this game.
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Austrian tennis player Sebastian Ofner (ATP 131) suffered a disappointing defeat in the second round of the 2026 Australian Open qualifiers.
In the semi-finals of the selection, the Austrian player lost to the US representative in three sets Nisheshu Basavareddy (ATP 239) in 2 hours 32 minutes. Basavareddy took the victory over Ofner in the third set super tiebreaker.
Sebastian was ahead 7:1 in the super tiebreaker and started celebrating his victory after gaining a point. Sebastian started walking towards the goal and the referee told him the match wasn’t over yet.
As a result, Ofner lost 11:13 and missed two match points: one at 10:9 on the return, the other at 11:10 on serve.
Basavareddy will compete against George Loffagen (Great Britain, ATP 211) in the Australian Open qualifying final.
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On January 14, all second round matches in tough tournaments ended WTA 500 in Adelaide And WTA 250 in HobartIt will take place parallel to the Australian Open 2026 qualifying match (Melbourne).
In Adelaide, Dayana Yastremskaya’s felon Katerina Sinyakova lost to Diana Schneider in the second round.
The best moments of tennis matches LIVE on Telegram channel Tennis on Sport.ua
Second-seeded five-hundred Madison Keys knocked out Tereza Valentova, and eighth-seeded Victoria Mboko fought Anna Kalinskaya.
Victoria Mboko [8] – 🏳️ Anna Kalinskaya – 6:2, 3:6, 7:6 (8:6) Teresa Valentova – Madison Keys [2] – 4:6, 1:6
WTA 500 Adelaide. Quarter final matches
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🏳️Mirra Andreeva [3] – Ayla Tomljanovic [WC]
🏳️Diana Schneider [9] – Emma Navarro [6]
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Kimberly Birrell- Jacqueline Christian [Q] Victoria Mboko [8] – Madison Keys [2]
Video review of match day in Adelaide
In Hobart, top seed Emma Raducanu advanced to the quarter-finals without a fight – Magdalena French withdrew from her second round match.
Olga Danilovich, who defeated McCartney Kessler and advanced to the second place, also defeated Peyton Stearns in the 1/8 final.
Third-seeded Iva Jovic crushes her opponents: The young American first gave up just one game to Janice Tjen and then defeated Renata Sarasua with scores of 6:1, 6:2. Her next opponent will be Magda Linette.
WTA 250 Hobart. 1/8 final
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Emma Raducanu [1] – Magdalena French – WO., Raducanu Rebecca Shramkova – Talia Preston [WC] – 4:6, 1:6
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(Adelaide) Leylah Annie Fernandez and her Hungarian playing partner Timea Babos fell 7-6 (3), 6-7 (6) and 6-10 to the Czech Katerina Siniakova and the Chinese Zhang Shuai in the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Adelaide tennis tournament on Wednesday.
Fernandez and Babos bowed after a tight duel lasting one hour and 59 minutes in front of the second seeds of the doubles tournament.
Siniakova and Zhang will face Kazakh Anna Danilina and Serbian Aleksandra Krunic, fourth seeds in the doubles, in the final four.
The Quebecoise, 22e world racket, lost to Russian Diana Shnaider 7-5, 6-3 in singles on Monday.
Furthermore, Ontario’s Victoria Mboko, eighth seed, will meet in the quarter-finals of the women’s singles with American Madison Keys, second seed, at the end of the evening.
Mboko is playing her first official WTA singles tournament in 2026, and her first since Hong Kong, which she won, in November 2025.
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Maria Bouzkova [LL] – 6:3, 6:1
