Felix Auger-Aliassime will become the second Canadian man to compete in this year's Australian Open quarterfinals when he takes on tournament favourite Daniil Medvedev of Russia on Wednesday (3:30 a.m ET / 12:30 a.m. PT).
Canada's Denis Shapovalov lost a five-set quarterfinal to Spain's Rafael Nadal on Tuesday.
The ninth-seeded Auger-Aliassime is a decisive underdog against the second-seeded Medvedev, who became the top-ranked player in the field after Novak Djokovic was deported.
Here is a capsule look at the quarterfinal:
Head to head
Medvedev is 3-0 against Auger-Aliassime, including a 6-4, 6-0 win at the ATP Cup in Australia earlier this month.
Medvedev also beat Auger-Aliassime in straight sets in a semifinal at last year's U.S. Open -- Auger-Aliassime's best result at a Grand Slam. Medvedev went on to defeat Djokovic in the final for his first career Grand Slam title.
Road to the quarters
Auger-Aliassime, from Montreal, won two tiebreakers en route to a four-set win over No. 27 seed Marin Cilic in the fourth round. Auger-Aliassime went into that match 0-3 against the Croatian. The Canadian beat No. 24 seed Daniel Evans in straight sets in the third round and needed a combined nine sets to get by two unseeded opponents in the first two rounds.
Medvedev hasn't faced a seeded opponent yet. He needed four sets to eliminate world No. 70 Maxime Cressy in the fourth round and dropped just one set in the first three rounds.
Grand Slam history
Along with his U.S. Open title last year, the 25-year-old Medvedev reached the final of the Australian Open, where he lost to Djokovic. He hadn't made it past the fourth round at the season-opening Grand Slam before last year's run.
This is a career-best Australian Open performance for the 21-year-old Auger-Aliassime. It's his third straight Grand Slam where he has qualified for the quarterfinals.
The draw
The victor will play the winner of a match between No. 11 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy and No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.
Medvedev less than thrilled
Medvedev took issue with tournament organizers for not scheduling him on centre court for his last match.
"First of all I really don't know what should I do to play on centre court at Grand Slams," he said. "I won the last Grand Slam. I'm the highest seed here. To play against Maxime on Rod Laver would be more space. When you play on a smaller court, it's tougher to play someone with a serve and volley."
The Russian also complained about new bathroom break rules, which give a maximum of three minutes off the court, with an additional two if they want to change clothes.
"I don't see any logic in this rule, so hence I can call it stupid."
Auger-Aliassime's thoughts on playing Medvedev
"I need to try to change things up. I have nothing to lose. Try to do something differently and try to play good and dig deep. ... The reality is he's the best player almost in the world now. He's a champion and I need to play a great match. I need to be able to give a great effort both mentally and physically to go through."
