Hamad Medjedovic has been forced into a heartbreaking withdrawal from the Qatar Open the day after defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Deep into the third and deciding set, Medjedovic suffered a nasty-looking injury whilst almost doing the splits. The 21-year-old hobbled for the remainder of the match but somehow managed to see it through, winning the tiebreak 7-5.
Tsitsipas then suffered the humiliation of walking freely to the net to shake hands with a player who could barely make it under his own steam, yet still managed to knock him out of the tournament.
The world No. 73 upsetting the sixth seed would have been a shock to begin with, but Medjedovic hauling his win over the line while effectively operating on one leg made it an even more striking result.
However, in a cruel twist for the Serb, he has been forced to pull out of the tournament altogether. Medjedovic allowed himself to sleep on it and assess his injury in the morning, but the youngster decided he would not be able to play on into the last 16.
His slated opponent, Felix Auger-Aliassime, has therefore gone straight through to the quarter-finals in Doha.
Medjedovic is still searching for his first ATP Tour title and has never made it beyond the first round of a Grand Slam. But his unlikely victory over Tsitsipas should at least spark belief that he can enjoy deep runs into future high-level tournaments.
Auger-Aliassime will be joined in the quarters by Andrey Rublev and Alex de Minaur, who both came through in straight sets on Wednesday. Jack Draper also breezed through against Australian Christopher O’Connell, while Daniil Medvedev steamrolled Zizou Bergs.
There will be no Novak Djokovic, however, as he was beaten in his first match since the Australian Open nearly a month ago by the unseeded Matteo Berrettini.
And the Serb made no excuses for his early exit, saying: “I didn’t have any pain or discomfort in that sense. I mean, I was outplayed by just a better player today. I wasn’t at my desired level, and it could be that I’m still not moving the way I want to move, but, I mean, I played without pain, so there is no excuse in that.
“He was just the better player. I think he played a masterclass match, to be honest, tactically, and served very well, so just a very deserved win from his side.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk