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Stefan Tonev
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Young gun Korda stuns Medvedev for biggest career win
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The American will face Polish 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz in the fourth round.

American Sebastian Korda stunned former world number one Daniil Medvedev 7-6(7) 6-3 7-6(4) in a thrilling contest to evict the losing finalist of the last two years from the Australian Open in the third round on Friday.

“Just go for it!” the 22-year-old Korda said when asked his game plan for the biggest win of his career.

“It was an unbelievable match,” he added. “I kind of knew what I had to do and I stuck with it even when I was going up and down with the emotions. But I’m thrilled. I played amazing, it was an unbelievable match for me.”

Korda will face Polish 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz in the fourth round.

Korda, son of 1998 Australian Open champion Petr and former professional Regina Rajchrtova, took the game to the Russian seventh seed from the start on Rod Laver Arena, firing winners from both sides, mixing it up with some serve-volley and lofting a few delightful drop shots.

The 29th seed, who won the 2018 junior’s Australian Open, took a 4-1 lead in the opening set only to be reined back in by Medvedev. He kept his nerve, however, to prevail in the tiebreak and clinch the set after 85 entertaining minutes.

The American kept up the aggression and secured the second set with only one break before again quickly breaking the unusually passive Medvedev at the start of the third.

It was only at that stage that the 2021 U.S. Open champion showed the quality that took him to the top of the world rankings and he broke back to force another tiebreak and keep alive his hopes of rescuing the match.

Korda would not be denied, though, and quickly secured five match points, showing some nerves before finally converting the fourth with a huge forehand for his 50th winner.

Medvedev made no excuses for his loss.

“I think it was a top match where he was just better than me,” the Russian said. “I won many matches like this. Right now, I’m struggling a little bit to win these kinds of matches against opponents that can play a good level. That’s what I have to find back.”