Daniil Medvedev became the highest seed to fall in the French Open singles after losing to Australia’s Alex de Minaur in the men’s fourth round.
Russian fifth seed Medvedev, 28, was beaten 4-6 6-2 6-1 6-3 at Roland Garros.
Medvedev needed treatment for blisters on his feet in the second set and lost nine of the next 10 games when he returned from a medical timeout.
The former world number one, who has never gone past the French Open quarter-finals, improved in the fourth set after going off court again.
But a poor backhand into the net handed over a break point at 3-3, which De Minaur took spectacularly with an inside-out forehand winner that kissed the line.
De Minaur used his speed around the court superbly to keep points alive throughout and drew mistakes out his frustrated opponent.
With Medvedev chuntering to his team, De Minaur stayed composed to hold to love and move a game away from victory.
Medvedev mis-hit a forehand long behind the baseline at 30-30 5-3 and a double fault from the 2021 US Open champion on match point was a sorry way to finish.
De Minaur is the first Australian man to reach the Roland Garros quarter-finals since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004.
Having never previously gone beyond the second round in Paris, De Minaur screamed “I love it here!” as he celebrated.
Throughout the match the 25-year-old was again spurred on by a young super-fan, who he credited for helping him beat Jan-Lennard Struff in the third round.
De Minaur said he was inspired by seeing the boy enthusiastically cheering every point and tracked him down on social media to invite him to this match.
The youngster was sat close to De Minaur’s team with a couple of friends, and all three chanted, cheered and celebrated after every point in the Australian’s favour.
De Minaur will play either German fourth seed Alexander Zverev or Danish 13th seed Holger Rune in the quarter-finals.
Source Agencies
