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Medvedev rallies to overcome Cilic in five-setter

“So I’m really happy. When I was 5-0, 40/0 up at the end and Marin came back to 2-5, I thought to myself, ‘Again..!’ Marin is an amazing player and for the first two sets he basically destroyed me,” said Medvedev.

Medvedev rallies to overcome Cilic in five-setter

Daniil Medvedev

Daniil Medvedev of Russia kept his composure and raised his level to overcome 2017 finalist Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-7(3), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 and reach the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time.

Medvedev will next face Poland’s 14th seed Hubert Hurkacz for a spot in the quarterfinal. Hurkacz moved into the fourth round, his best result at a Grand Slam, with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik.

“It was an unbelievable match,” Medvedev said in an on-court interview after the Saturday evening match.

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“I think tennis fans always enjoy watching players come back from two-sets-to-love down and for it to be five sets. I certainly do so when I watch tennis on the TV. It’s my first comeback (from 0-2 sets down), and actually what’s amazing is against (Belgium’s) David Goffin at Wimbledon in 2019, I was two-sets-to-love down and I had a break in the fifth set, but I lost. So when I left the court after the fourth set today, I told myself, ‘It’s not going to be another one of those’.

“So I’m really happy. When I was 5-0, 40/0 up at the end and Marin came back to 2-5, I thought to myself, ‘Again..!’ Marin is an amazing player and for the first two sets he basically destroyed me,” said Medvedev.

The world No. 2 arrived at Wimbledon high on confidence after claiming his 11th ATP Tour title at the Mallorca Championships, his first tour-level trophy on grass courts. He continued the momentum to become the seventh Russian man to complete a set of round-of-16 appearances at all four Grand Slams, and the second to do so in as many days after Andrey Rublev achieved the feat on July 2.

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