Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime held off his rival this time for five hard-fought rounds, but in the end he lost the flag again to Russian Daniil Medvedev.
Medvedev won in five sets of 6-7 (4), 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5 and 6-4 and four hours 42 minutes of play in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
Last September, the 21-year-old Quebecer had already given up in three sets against Medvedev in the semi-finals of the United States Open. This time, he forced his opponent to pull out all the stops to get the win.
Auger-Aliassime put pressure on Medvedev early in the game, winning the first two sets.
But a six-minute break in the third-set tiebreaker to shut down the Rod Laver Stadium roof during a downpour tipped the match in Medvedev’s favour.
Auger-Aliassime won just one of the final six points in the tiebreaker after dominating the first two sets. He then squandered a match point on Medvedev’s serve in the 10th game of the fourth set.
Medvedev saved the day with a big outgoing first serve, then he hit the winner with a spike. The 25-year-old Russian broke in the second-to-last game and held his serve to tie the game at 2-2. He then got another break when Auger-Aliassime double-faulted in the third game of the deciding set.
Medvedev still had to save two break points before confirming his victory.
Medvedev will face Roland-Garros finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday. The Greek kept his perfect Grand Slam quarter-final record (5-0) with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over 11th seed Jannik Sinner.