Daniil Medvedev takes a break and then thrashes Emil Ruusuvuori

If you just woke up in the United States, you might be passing Daniil Medvedev on his way to bed. The third-seeded player at the Australian Open was forced to go five sets against Emil Ruusuvuori and the match did not end until nearly 4 am in Melbourne. But while he now needs some rest, Medvedev likely gained some confidence from the match.

After dropping the first two sets and simply making things difficult on himself with too many unforced errors while not creating enough winners, Medvedev slowly began to turn the match. But he also needed to take a little break because of a blister. Many players have commented on Medvedev playing little games during a match to disrupt his opponents, however. If this was the case against Ruusuvuori, it worked.

Or maybe what worked was Medvedev finding his footing a bit more (maybe the blister helped). After having 21 unforced errors to just 8 winners in the second set alone (while Emil Ruusuvuori had 23 and 15, respectively), by the fourth set Medvedev had 18 winners against just 9 unforced errors. Possibly Medvedev needed the blister to help him refocus, but Ruusuvuori also appeared gassed by the fifth set.

Daniil Medvedev battles a blister and Emil Ruusuvuori to win his Australian Open second round match

The fifth set completely belonged to Daniil Medvedev as he whitewashed the Finn. After an early break and Ruusuvuori not being able to make the same kinds of shots he was making early in the match, the small crowd that was left to watch so late at night in Melbourne likely could feel the match was over.

In the end, Medvedev had 21 aces while Emil Ruusuvuori could only muster one. His lack of ability to dominate his service games caused longer games and longer sets and he just did not seem to have the fitness level to keep up with Medvedev as Medvedev took the 4 hour and 23-minute match 3-6 6-7(1) 6-4 7-6(1) 6-0. This won't be the case for Medvedev in his next match, however, as he is set to face Felix Auger-Aliassime and the Canadian should be plenty fresh for the match. Now let's hope Medvedev gets enough rest for that.

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