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International | Tennis

Australian Open: Daniil Medvedev reaches fourth round as Andrey Rublev loses

Daniil Medvedev lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2021 Australian Open final

Russian world number two Daniil Medvedev reached the Australian Open fourth round with a straight-set win over Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp.

The 2021 finalist claimed a comfortable 6-4 6-4 6-2 win against the world number 57 inside Margaret Court Arena.

The US Open champion will play American Maxime Cressy in the last 16 after he beat Australian Christopher O'Connell.

However, fifth seed Andrey Rublev is out after the Russian lost to Croatia's Marin Cilic in four sets.

Cilic, a finalist in 2018, prevailed 7-5 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-3 to set up a meeting with Canadian ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Auger-Aliassime, 21, earlier beat Britain's Dan Evans 6-4 6-1 6-1.

Meanwhile, Greek fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas progressed with victory in four sets against Benoit Paire.

Two-time semi-finalist Tsitsipas, 23, recorded a 6-3 7-5 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 victory on Rod Laver Arena against Frenchman Paire, ranked 56th.

Medvedev & Tsitsipas march on as Rublev falls

After coming through an entertaining four-set match against Australian Nick Kyrgios, Medvedev encountered few problems against the only player to win a set against him on his run to the US Open title in September.

A break of serve in the third game of the opening two sets was enough to put the Russian, 25, in control of his third-round match - although the second seed did face a break point when leading 3-2 in the second.

But Medvedev, the highest ranked player in the draw, recorded a double break in the third set as he clinically closed out the match by winning five consecutive games.

Upcoming opponent Cressy, 24, beat wildcard O'Connell 6-2 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 6-2 to secure his first major fourth round appearance.

"I was hoping you were going to be a little bit easier on me you guys," Medvedev joked to the crowd, after he received boos following his win over Australian Kyrgios on Thursday.

"I'll put it this way, it's easier to play a guy from the Netherlands than a guy from Australia in Australia, in Melbourne.

"Every good relationship must have its ups and downs so I think it's good, it's entertaining and it's real, there is some relationship going on."

Cilic pulled off the biggest upset on Saturday, as the 2014 US Open champion secured only his second win against a top-10 opponent since 2018.

The 33-year-old stunned the world number six as he landed 24 aces and hit 55 winners in an impressive display.

The 27th seed took control by winning the second set tie-break, having broke late in the first, and responded to Rublev's third set recovery to seal a memorable victory.

Tsitsipas had won his previous three meetings with Paire and took his first break point of the match as he raced into a 3-0 lead on the way to claiming the first set.

The 23-year-old escaped two break points on his opening service game in the second and was unable to take one of three opportunities in the following game - but he eventually made the breakthrough in the 11th game before serving out the set.

He could not find a way through Paire in the third and the Frenchman was rewarded for his resolve as he dominated the tie-break.

However, Tsitsipas struck the decisive blow with a break to love to seize his first match point after two hours and 45 minutes.

The Greek will face American Taylor Fritz for a place in the quarter-finals, after the 20th seed overcame Spanish 15th seed Roberto Bautista Agut in five sets, battling back to win 6-0 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-3.

Italian 11th seed Jannik Sinner's 6-4 1-6 6-3 6-1 win over Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel means he will play Alex de Minaur, after the Australian defeated Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-4 6-4 6-2.

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.