Stan Wawrinka Stuns Daniil Medvedev in Epic 5-set Showdown at Australian Open 2020

The 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka rallied from a set down to defeat the No.4 seed Daniil Medvedev in a thrilling five-setter 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2  in the fourth round of Australian Open 2020. With this victory, Wawrinka reached his fifth Australian Open quarterfinals.

Despite Wawrinka committing 64 unforced errors, Medvedev still had no answers to Wawrinka’s counter-attacking tennis. The Swiss star struck a whopping number of 71 winners.

Stan Wawrinka broke twice to clinch the first set

Wawrinka started the match with a flawless form, breaking Medvedev in his second service game and get a 3-1 lead. The Russian could not come back in the set as he was broken again while serving to stay in the set.

The Swiss star closed the opening set 6-2 in 33 minutes. Wawrinka did not face a single breakpoint on his service game, winning 82% of his 1st serve points.

Daniil Medvedev levelled back the match

The No.4 seed was back on track in the next set as he broke Wawrinka for the first time in the match in the third game of the set. The Russian clinched 5 consecutive games to get a commanding 5-1 lead. He then served out the second set 6-2 in just 31 minutes.

In a serving masterclass from the 23-year-old, he did not face a single breakpoint on his serve, losing only one point on his first-serves. In total, Medvedev lost only 3 points in his four service games in the set.

Wawrinka lost focus as Medvedev won the third set

With the momentum swinging in Medvedev’s favour, he rushed to break the Swiss No.2 in the seventh game to get a 4-3 lead on serve. The US Open 2019 runner-up served out the third set 6-4 in 43 minutes.

Continuing his dominance on serve, Medvedev did not face any troubles on his serve. He tried to mix-up his shots by coming forward to the net and put his opponent on the backfoot. The next-gen star, who is not known for his volley game, won 5 of 5 net points in the set.

Wawrinka edged Medvedev in the fourth set tiebreaker

A much focused Wawrinka earned his first chance to break in three sets in the fourth game of the set. However, the 23-year-old denied the breakpoint to hold a crucial service game. The set saw no break of serves from either player till 6-6 as the set was forced to a tiebreak.

Wawrinka was off to a perfect start in the tiebreaker, winning the first 3 points with two mini-breaks. He then earned four set points at 6-2 before securing the fourth set 7-6(2) in an hour.

Wawrinka wraps the match with the fifth set victory

The 34-year-old carried his momentum in the next set, breaking his opponent in the first game. In the fourth game, Medvedev earned two chances to break Wawrinka. However, he squandered the opportunities after missing an easy backhand, hitting it in the middle of the net as Wawrinka held his serve.

Medvedev lost concentration as Stan Wawrinka saw an opportunity to get a double break over the Russian with two break chances. However, Medvedev struck two consecutive aces to save the two breakpoints before the masterclass from Wawrinka secured the break.

The World No.15 served out the match after 3 hours and 25 minutes, winning the deciding set 6-3. With this victory, Wawrinka records his first win over Medvedev in their five encounters.

He will next face the winner between Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev in the round of 8 at the 2020 Australian Open.