Melbourne, Jan 23 (IANS) Daniil Medvedev produced a vintage comeback from “down two sets to love and a break” to overcome world No. 47 Fabian Marozsan 6-7(5), 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, 6-3 in the third-round clash of the Australian Open here on Friday.

Medvedev has now reached the fourth round at a Grand Slam 18 times throughout his career. Since debuting at the Australian Open in 2017, only four players have done better: Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Rafael Nadal and Jannik Sinner.

Despite Marozsan’s modest serve speed, Medvedev stood in his usual returning position deep below the baseline, under the shade, and forced the Hungarian to meet his level for almost four hours.

“He played great, and I was like, ‘If I lose, I lose,’ but I’m just going to try; I’m just going to fight. I tried to go for it a bit more because he was moving me all around. It managed to work, I started playing better, so I’m happy about it,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview.

En route to his fifth career comeback, Medvedev earned a crucial break at 5-5 in the third set that turned the tide of the match. The three-time Melbourne finalist won nine consecutive games to deflate the hopes of the Hungarian, eventually escaping after three hours and 43 minutes, ATP Tour reports.

The 11th seed Medvedev, who has opened his 2026 season on an eight-match winning streak, including a title run at the ATP 250 in Brisbane this month, will next face Learner Tien, who took a contrasting path to victory Friday, ousting Portugal’s Nuno Borges 7-6(9), 6-4, 6-2.

“We’ve played three times. All of them have been wars. He served for the match all three time. We both don’t give up too many free points. We both don’t make it easy on our opponents. So, naturally, we’re not making it easy on each other. We both have to work very hard for points and games,” said Tien, who stunned Medvedev last year in a five-set, second-round battle at Melbourne Park.

–IANS

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