By Shrivathsa Sridhar
PARIS (Reuters) – Alex de Minaur broke a 20-year Australian hoodoo at the French Open on Monday as the 11th seed battled from a set down to stun fifth seed Daniil Medvedev 4-6 6-2 6-1 6-3 and advance to his first Roland Garros quarter-final.
De Minaur became the first man from his nation to reach the last eight at the claycourt Grand Slam since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004, with the victory on Suzanne Lenglen seemingly aided by Medvedev’s mid-match blip due to a foot problem.
Former Paris quarter-finalist Medvedev had lost only twice in eight previous meetings with De Minaur and drew first blood with a break in the third game but the 28-year-old was pushed hard in the next before extending his lead.
De Minaur drew loud cheers from the crowd as he retrieved shots relentlessly to mount a late comeback attempt from there but Medvedev wrapped up the opening set with little fuss to briefly dampen his opponent’s spirits.
Medvedev shrugged off a string of superb winners from De Minaur’s racket at the start of the second set but surrendered it tamely with an unforced error after taking a medical timeout for blisters on his foot midway.
With the momentum shifting, the 25-year-old De Minaur blazed to a 5-1 lead en route to winning the third set before he traded breaks with Medvedev early in the fourth and pulled away shortly after for a famous win.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Paris; editing by Clare Fallon)
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