The Latest: Medvedev tops Rublev, reaches semis in Australia

By Associated Press 17 February 2021, 12:00AM

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Latest on Day 10 of the Australian Open (all times local):

5:45 p.m.

Daniil Medvedev will take a 19-match winning streak into the Australian Open semifinals after beating fellow Russian Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.

The pair were teammates when Russia won the ATP Cup team event on the eve of the Australian Open. They were on opposite sides of the net on Wednesday, and Medvedev was dominant.

The No. 4-seeded Medvedev hasn’t dropped a set to No. 7-seeded Rublev in four tour-level matches. That includes their meeting in the U.S. Open quarterfinals last year.

He called for the trainer after the match to massage his upper legs as he sat in a courtside chair before a TV interview.

“First time. I think I never saw it also,” he said in the on-court interview. “I went to the bench, last game of the match. I started cramping. I knew he was cramping also. At the end, I locked completely ... three last points when I was getting ready for the serve.”

Medvedev is into the semifinals of a major for the third time. He will next play either 20-time major winner Rafael Nadal or No. 5-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas.

There’s two Russian men in the semifinals. No. 114-ranked Aslan Karatsev will play top-ranked Novak Djokovic for a spot in the final.

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4 p.m.

Last year's Australian Open champion, Sofia Kenin, says she had her appendix removed this week.

The 22-year-old American posted on Twitter on Wednesday that she went to see the tournament doctor this week with “acute abdominal pain.”

She wrote that the doctor sent her to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with acute appendicitis after a medical scan and had surgery on Monday.

Kenin lost to Kaia Kanepi in straight sets in the second round of her title defense at the Australian Open last week.

Kenin then dropped her opening match at a lower-level WTA event held at the same site in Melbourne against Australian teenager Olivia Gadecki on Saturday.

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3:15 p.m.

Jennifer Brady has reached her second Grand Slam semifinal in a row by beating fellow American and good friend Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 at the Australian Open.

Brady’s opponent Thursday will be Karolina Muchova. The No. 25 seed rallied past No. 1 Ash Barty 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. The United States will have a semifinalist in the women’s draw at Melbourne for the 11th year in a row.

The No. 22-seeded Brady struggled at times and gave her racket an angry toss midway through the second set. The unseeded Pegula, who advanced beyond the third round at a major for the first time, appeared to tire down the stretch.

Brady is a former UCLA star. She reached her first major semifinal at the U.S. Open in September.

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1:20 p.m.

Top-ranked Ash Barty has been upset by No. 25-seeded Karolina Muchova in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Muchova earned her first semifinal berth in a Grand Slam, and her comeback win ended Barty’s bid to become the first Australian woman to win the title in Melbourne since Chris O’Neil in 1978.

Early in the second set, Muchova took an injury timeout that lasted nearly 10 minutes. She said her head was spinning, and medical personnel took her pulse and temperature before she left the court. When she returned, she played much better.

Muchova’s opponent Thursday will be the winner of the last quarterfinal, an all-American matchup between No. 22-seeded Jennifer Brady and unseeded Jessica Pegula.

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11:20 a.m.

Play is underway as the quarterfinals resume at the Australian Open, with the first match pitting top-seeded Ash Barty against No. 25 Karolina Muchova.

They'll be followed by an all-American matchup between Jennifer Brady and unseeded Jessica Pegula.

Then come the last two men's quarterfinals. Andrey Rublev faces fellow Russian Daniil Medvedev, and in the night session, Rafael Nadal plays Stefanos Tsitsipas. Nadal is trying to reach a Grand Slam semifinal for the 35th time.

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More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

By Associated Press 17 February 2021, 12:00AM

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