Daniil Medvedev stated Wednesday he was joyful to be flying beneath the radar on the Australian Open as he stepped up his bid to achieve a 3rd consecutive Melbourne last.

The Russian overcame a partisan crowd and hard veteran John Millman 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 on Margaret Court Arena to achieve spherical three.

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The seventh seed, who misplaced the 2021 decider to Novak Djokovic after which towards Rafael Nadal final yr, meets American Sebastian Korda or Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki subsequent.

Medvedev is on the identical facet of the draw as Nadal and was scheduled to satisfy him within the final eight.

But with the Spaniard’s shock defeat Wednesday to Mackenzie McDonald, his path to a 3rd straight last has opened up.

“For certain a very powerful is to concentrate on your self as a result of, nicely, that’s the one approach how one can win,” he stated.

“Novak can lose. Rafa can lose. Stefanos (Tsitsipas) can lose. But if you lose too, it doesn’t matter that they lose.

“It’s normal when we have Rafa and Novak that all the attention comes to them. That’s completely normal,” he stated.

“I can solely attempt to play good. It’s true that I made the finals two final instances taking part in right here, so I’m feeling good to play in Australia and searching ahead to play some extra matches this yr.”

The Russian dropped just three games in a demolition of Marcos Giron in the first round, but met stiffer resistance initially from Millman, with plenty of long rallies.

They went toe-to-toe in the first set with both players struggling on serve before the world number eight broke for a fourth time to seal the set.

Medvedev moved up a gear in the second set, and when Millman netted a backhand to give him a 2-1 advantage, the Russian put his foot to the floor to take full control.

There was no way back for the Australian, with Medvedev in the zone as he raced to victory.

“Physically for both of us it was tough,” stated Medvedev, who’s bidding to grow to be simply the fourth man within the Open period to achieve three consecutive Australian Open finals, after Djokovic, Mats Wilander and Ivan Lendl.

“But I felt superb.”

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