MELBOURNE/STARNBERG, February 16, 2021
World No. 4 Daniil Medvedev, World No. 8 Andrey Rublev and World No. 114 Aslan Karatsev have all reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, the first three Russian men to do so at the same Grand Slam in the Open era.
The history-making trio has achieved some astonishing results leading up to this moment. Medvedev has notched up a winning streak of 18 consecutive matches and faces Rublev – winner of the most titles and matches on the ATP Tour in 2020 – in the quarterfinals.
“It’s amazing. It’s definitely one Russian in the semis, three Russians in the quarters,” said Medvedev, who won all of the three previous meetings with his compatriot, quoted by the official website of the Australian Open. “It’s great for our sport. We are both, with Andrey, really happy for Aslan, because he was practising good in ATP Cup. We felt like he could do something amazing.”
Rublev added: “It’s first time in history, then it’s always something special. In the end, we are the first ones.”
Qualifier Karatsev is the lowest ranked player in 30 years to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals, and the first player since 1993 to do so in a main draw debut. The champion of two ATP Challenger Tour 125 tournaments in the Czech Republic at the Prague Open and the Ostrava Open last year is up against World No. 21 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria on Tuesday.
King Karatsev clinches his second-consecutive @ATPChallenger 👑 since the re-start winning the 2020 Ostrava Open 6-4 6-2 against Oscar Otte. pic.twitter.com/csfTwqQ9co
— TennisTourTalk (@TennisTourTalk) September 6, 2020
Should Karatsev, who defeated two seeded players en-route to the stage of the final eight in Melbourne, record another upset against Dimitrov, he will become the first man in the Open Era to reach the semi-finals on his Grand Slam debut and become just the second qualifier to reach the last four at the Australian Open
