Danil Medvedev (RUS, World No. 3) completed a dramatic upset to reach the final of the Australian Open 2024.

Medvedev completed a 5-7 3-6 7-6(4) 7-6(5) 6-3 reverse sweep of Alexander Zverev (Germany, world No. 6) in the men's singles semifinals at Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday.

It was Medvedev's second reverse sweep of the semifinals, as he defeated Emil Rusubuori (FIN, World No. 53) in a four-hour, 23-minute match in the second round.

Medvedev lost to Novak Djokovic (Serbia, World No. 1) in 2021 and Rafael Nadal (Spain) in 2022 for the second consecutive year. Against Nadal, Medvedev took the second set before falling short.

Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion, will be playing in his sixth career Grand Slam final and first Australian Open title. 

Medvedev will face world No. 4 Yannick Tsigner (ITA), who upset favorite Djokovic in the final.

Medvedev has met Thiem nine times since 2020, winning six times. Last year alone, the two met five times, four times in tour finals and once in the semifinals of the ATP Finals, with Thiem winning their most recent three meetings, including the Finals stage. This is the first time the two players have met at a Grand Slam. 

Medvedev failed to manage a double-fault early in the match, but bounced back with a leech-like performance in the second game, backed by tenacious defense and a powerful serve.

Zverev won the first break with a love game and Medvedev made two consecutive double faults to take the second break, giving Zverev a huge lead in the first set at 4-1.

Medvedev broke once, but Zverev broke back immediately to take the first set.

Zverev capitalized on the momentum of the first set, generating seven break opportunities in the second set, landing two breaks and never facing a break point to take the set 2-0.

In the third set, both players continued to defend their service games with strong serves of over 200 km/h. The third and fourth sets eventually went to tiebreaks, with Medvedev winning both to level the set.

Medvedev faced a double fault at 4-4 in the fourth set tiebreaker, but finished with a surprise return drop shot and service ace to send the match to a fifth set.

In the fifth game of the fifth set, the balance was off. Having lost two tiebreaks in a row, Zverev seemed to lose focus 바카라 and failed to finish off two easy balls in a row, leaving him on the brink of a double-break. It went to deuce, but Medvedev eventually broke to take his first lead.

Medvedev modified his trademark deep return strategy and began to move forward a meter or two in the third game to attempt aggressive returns, which eventually paid off in the fifth game. 

Medvedev pressured Zverev with aggressive returns in the final game and earned a match point with the game score at 40-30. In desperation, Zverev's forehand stroke hit the net, allowing Medvedev to complete his second reverse sweep of the tournament.