Miami: World number three Jannik Sinner will face defending champion Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals of the Miami Open – a rematch of last year’s final – after both enjoyed victories on Wednesday.
Sinner advanced to the last four in emphatic style, beating Czech Tomáš Machač 6-4, 6-2, before Medvedev overcame a tough test against Chilean Nicolas Jarry to eventually prevail 6-2, 7-6 (9/7).
The Italian Sinner, who won his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open this year, will be playing in his fourth semi-final of the season after seeing off the lively Machac in 91 minutes.
Sinner broke the opening serve of the game from Čech, but Machač immediately responded and made it 1:1.
The crowd was on its feet to appreciate some brilliant defensive play from Sinner, who eventually took the lead of the set, leading 4-3 before closing out.
The second set was more straightforward, with Sinner breaking in the third game and never looking back. Despite the comfortable lead to victory, Sinner said Machač deserved credit for an energetic and aggressive performance.
“He has incredible talent. He’s super fast, he’s also in great shape physically,” said the world number three.
“I didn’t know exactly what to expect today. In the first matches I was kind of looking at what tactics might work or not,” he added.
“I played well, especially in the important moments of the game, which makes it … the scoreboard, you see the score, but sometimes it lies. Today was a little bit like that,” Sinner said.
The 22-year-old player doesn’t have to remind himself of the challenge that awaits him after losing to Medvedev in last year’s final.
He roared on
Medvedev ran away with the first set against Jarry, who was slow out of the blocks. But the second set was a different story with the Chilean roared on by the heavily Latin American crowd as he found his big serve.
The pair were inseparable, with plenty of entertaining rallies until the tiebreak.
Medvedev missed a chance to win the match at 6-5 when he came to the net for a routine match point conversion, but found the net – prompting a huge roar from the Chilean fans.
A blistering ace from Jarry made it 7-7, but he followed with a weak effort that flew long, and then on the third match point, Medvedev wrapped up the win.
“In the first set, I feel that I played at a good level, but nothing extra and it was enough to win, so I was happy about that,” Medvedeva said.
“Then he was able to play much better. They were tough rallies, tough points, he served better and yes, in the tiebreak it was a matter of a few points, as it sometimes happens in tennis,” he said.
The Russian seemed to enjoy the extra spice provided by the Chilean fans in the stadium. “To be honest, I was prepared for it and I expected worse, when I say worse (I mean) more cheering fans supporting him.
“It was a pretty good atmosphere, you know even many times the referee said the players were ready but I said I don’t care, it’s not that bad actually, I’ve seen worse,” he said. Medvedev said he was looking forward to resuming the battle with Sinner.
“He’s playing better and better, he’s confident, you even see some games where you look and maybe he’s struggling a bit, he manages to find solutions and that’s what champions do.
“It’s a big challenge for me to keep improving my game and I’ll try to show my 100 percent and go for it.” “It won’t be easy if I make it,” he said.
