Accustomed to Daniil Medvedev being the one who exasperates rivals with his tactics, it was very nice to see Nuno Borges posing a match to exasperate the Russian. In fact, in a way he succeeded and the world number 3 needed to work hard to be in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.
Nuno Borges jumped into the Rod Laver Arena for the first time in his life, but he did so without fear, without any type of complex and willing to give battle to Daniil Medvedev. The Russian had already raised his level in the third round of this Open the Australia 2024, but that did not intimidate the Portuguese, who was very clear about what the plan to follow was and was not going to deviate from it even one millimeter, whether things went his way or not. In a way the tactic worked for him, but in the end it was the Muscovite – with scare included – who won the match 6-3, 7-6(4), 5-7 and 6-1.
Strong with the serve, looking to take the forehand to dominate the points and send Daniil to the walls of the center court and then throw a dropshot to attract him to the net, that is what Borges did again and again. There is no better tactic to beat Medvedev than the one used by the Portuguese, but even those were not enough for him. The double finalist of the Australian Open knows everything and in the first round he found the necessary break to give the first blow to the match.
Borges did not collapse, who continued with the same type of game although he added his own raises to the net. The Portuguese suffered in the exchanges and chose to shorten the points when he was also broken in the second set. In this way, and some errors from the Russian, he recovered the break and took the second chapter of the match to the tiebreaker. There he had his own options, but Daniil’s experience and Nuno’s nerves were noticeable because while one chained successes, the other made mistakes that didn’t matter.
BORGES’ REACTION
The 2-0 seemed to be the sentence for the match and even more so when Medvedev took the lead very quickly in the third set. 5-2 and all the fish sold… or not. Suddenly Medvedev’s typical mental breakdown came, something classic for him, and Borges held on to the game and did not stop believing. Not only did he recover the break and save two match points with his serve, but he also got another break and took the set 7-5. A 5-0 run that left those present speechless. In the blink of an eye the game had come back to life.
The excitement did not last long because Cervara’s pupil reconnected with the crash and there was no longer a story. Medvedev activated his wall mode and fatigue began to show in Borges’ legs. Great effort from the Portuguese to take at least one set, but Daniil is another level. The Russian continues to advance and is already in the quarterfinals, although he will have to raise his level if he wants to have a chance of taking the title home. Next stop, Hurkacz.
2024-01-22 07:04:49
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