Aus Open: Good win for Korda against Medvedev

Backing up his impressive start to 2023, Sebastian Korda delivered a stunning performance on Friday at the Australian Open, where he outplayed Daniil Medvedev for a 7-6(7), 6-3, 7-6(4) third-round victory, here. The American struck the ball confidently from the first point against the seventh-seeded Medvedev. He broke the 2021 and 2022 Australian Open finalist in the first game and was a constant threat in return games, ultimately converting five out of 10 break points and holding his nerve in first and third-set tie-breaks to seal a fourth-round spot in style. “It was an unbelievable match. I kind of knew what I had to do. I stuck with it even when I was going up and down with the emotions, but I’m thrilled right now, I played amazing, and it was an unbelievable match for me,” said Korda in his on-court interview. In his first tournament of 2023, Korda defeated Andy Murray and Jannik Sinner en route to the final of the Adelaide International 1, where he held championship points before falling in three sets to Novak Djokovic. Having now dispatched Medvedev for his first Grand Slam win against a top 10 opponent, the 2018 Australian Open boys’ singles champion will be feeling confident as he prepares to face Hubert Hurkacz in the next round. The 22-year old Korda came out firing early on Rod Laver Arena, where he charged to a 4-1 lead with a double-break through a combination of impenetrable defence and powerful baseline ball striking. However, Medvedev showed the resilience that took him to the Melbourne final in each of the past two years. He hauled himself back to 5-5 as he threatened to steal the opening set despite largely struggling to dictate play. Top two seeds Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud are already out, although third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas won on Friday. Fourth seed Novak Djokovic will play his third-round match on Saturday. Tsitsipas continued his strong start to the tournament with a straight-set win over Tallon G