Italian Jannik Sinner (3rd player in the world) crushed Russian Daniil Medvedev (4th) 6-1, 6-2 on Friday to qualify for the final of the Masters 1000 in Miami. Winner of the Australian Open in January, thanks to a success in the final over Medvedev, Sinner (22) will face either the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov or the German Alexander Zverev on Sunday. In the event of final success, he would become world No.2 in place of the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the best ranking of his career.
Sinner thus continues his incredible start to the season, where he has only been beaten once in 21 meetings, by Alcaraz in the semi-final in Indian Wells two weeks ago. The Italian qualifies for his third final in Miami, a tournament he has not yet won. He was beaten by the Pole Hubert Hurkacz in 2021, then by Daniil Medvedev in 2023. Since this success, Medvedev has been dominated five times in a row by Sinner, notably in the final of the last Australian Open.
Beaten on his serve from the first game of the two sets, the Russian was constantly put under pressure on his play by Sinner, often appearing disillusioned by the superior level of play of his opponent, who for example broke him from an unthinkable winning comeback at the start of the second set. Medvedev (28 years old), although a specialist in hard court tournaments, failed to convert the few opportunities left by the Italian (three break points, all saved). The Russian often turned around to complain to his French coach Gilles Cervara, after several of his unforced errors, sometimes crude, in the second round.