Australian Open 2021 Order of Play – What time Daniil Medvedev plays Stefanos Tsitsipas on Day 12

Updated 18/02/2021 at 21:51 GMT

Three Australian Open singles semi-finals took place on Thursday, so Friday is all about the last semi-final as Daniil Medvedev plays Stefanos Tsitsipas on Rod Laver Arena. The Australian Open is live on Eurosport. Watch every match live and ad-free on the Eurosport app and eurosport.co.uk.

Daniil Medvedev leads the head-to-head with Stefanos Tsitsipas 5-1

Image credit: Getty Images

The second Friday of the Australian Open sees the last singles semi-final take place on the Rod Laver Arena.

Naomi Osaka and Jennifer Brady have already secured their places in the women’s final on Saturday, while Novak Djokovic is into Sunday’s final after the men’s world number one beat Aslan Karatsev on Thursday.

After two doubles matches during the day session on Rod Laver, focus will turn to the second men’s singles semi-final when fourth seed Daniil Medvedev takes on fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

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The duo are the highest-ranked men’s players yet to win a Grand Slam title, and though Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem are out, the pair know Friday’s victor will face a tough task to topple Djokovic.

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The Serbian even upped the ante when talking to Eurosport in the Cube on Thursday, insisting the next generation have “a lot of work to do” if they want to knock him off his perch.

“Pressure is always there, it’s part of what we do, but pressure is also a privilege. It means you are in the mix, that you’re still doing something that is important and valuable for you and the rest of the tennis world,” Djokovic said.

“There has been a lot of talk about the new generation coming and taking over the three of us, but realistically that isn’t happening still. We can talk about it all day if you want, but with all my respect about the other guys, they still have a lot of work to do.

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“Of course Dominic Thiem winning a Grand Slam title is fantastic. These guys are very strong, play high-quality tennis, without a doubt.

“Certainly they will be the leaders of the future of tennis, without a doubt, but I’m not going to stand here and hand it over to them. I’m going to make them work their ass off for it.”

The challenge has been laid down to Medvedev and Tsitsipas, who will also have one day less to recover than Djokovic.

Medvedev v Tsitsipas H2H

2019 – ATP Finals – RR – Stefanos Tsitsipas won 7-6(5) 6-4
2019 – Shanghai – SF – Daniil Medvedev won 7-6(5) 7-5
2019 – Monte Carlo – R16 – Daniil Medvedev won 6-2 1-6 6-4
2018 – Basel – QF – Daniil Medvedev won 6-4 3-6 6-3
2018 – US Open – R64 – Daniil Medvedev won 6-4 6-3 4-6 6-3
2018 –Miami – R128 – Daniil Medvedev won 2-6 6-4 6-2

In terms of their match-up, Medvedev comfortably leads the head-to-head 5-1 over Tsitsipas, but having not faced off for more than a year it remains a difficult match to call.

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Only their two most recent meetings have ended in straight sets, but over five there is every chance it could go the distance given the qualities that both possess.