The No. 1 seed lost the point and could not resist the emerging 22-year-old Russian, who rallied to take the set in a tie break. It was only the second set Djokovic has lost in the tournament.

The contrast to the Roger Federer and Stefanos Tsitsipas match a night earlier could not have been more stark. One was attacking, aggressive, with serves and volleys and a style that drew people to watch. The other was the Djokovic-Medvedev baseline slug fest.

The change in the Djokovic game came after the Serbian tumbled heavily to the court when down 0-40 on serve in the third set. He hung on to win the game and then broke Medvedev in the next game. He didn't look back after winning the third set easily and closed the match out in four sets.

It was an energy-sapping match; only four sets but with long points of heavy baseline rallies, though Djokovic's next opponent Kei Nishikori playing at the same time won in five sets and a super tie break.