Miami open: Sinner sets up clash with Medvedev

Miami, March 28

Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner won his 20th match of the year to reach the Miami Open semifinals for the third time in the past four years with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Tomas Machac on Wednesday.

Sinner, seeded second, will take on third seed Daniil Medvedev in a rematch of last year’s Miami Open final. Medvedev won that but has lost four straight matchups since.

Medvedev advanced to the latest meeting with a 6-2 7-6 (7) win over 22nd seed Nicolas Jarry in a late match.

Sinner reached his fourth semifinal of the season and moved to 20-1 overall. He reached the finals of this event in 2021 and 2023, losing both times. “It was a really tough match, but I was happy about the performance,” Sinner said.

Sinner, 22, said Machac served well early on and his aggressiveness kept things close for a while. But Sinner continued his fabulous run, breaking his opponent’s serve four times, to move on to the next round. “I always say when it all feels good on the court, it’s easy to play tennis,” he said. “But it has to start off in a practice session when you don’t feel well, but you still have to practise and this can make the difference. At the moment, I feel really good on the court,” he added.

Alexandrova’s run continues

On the women’s side, 14th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova followed up her win over top seed Iga Swiatek with another top-10 victory, taking down fifth seed Jessica Pegula 3-6 6-4 6-4. Alexandrova earned her first trip to a Miami Open semifinal.

“I think it’s like the biggest achievement for me today on this court, and semifinal is a big bonus,” Alexandrova said.

Alexandrova will face Danielle Collins, who defeated No. 23 seed Caroline Garcia 6-3 6-2.

Collins will play in the Miami semifinal round for the first time since she made it as a qualifier six years ago.

Garcia had come off consecutive wins over Grand Slam champions Naomi Osaki and Coco Gauff. But the run fizzled out against Collins, who has won 10 of 11 sets in this tournament and needed just 80 minutes to advance.

Collins moved to 4-0 in her career against Garcia, who never had a breakpoint in the match. Collins downplayed the dominant showing. “Against someone like Caro, it forces me to be more concentrated, because I know I don’t want to give her an inch,” Collins said. — AP