JANNIK Sinner from Italy destroyed defending champion Daniil Medvedev 6-1, 6-2 in just 69 minutes in the 2024 Miami Open semifinal match, Saturday (29/3). In the final round Monday (1/4), Sinner will face Grigor Dimitrov.
Bulgaria’s Dimitrov reached his third Masters 1000 series final after he defeated fourth seed Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4. The win means Dimitrov will return to the top 10 of the ATP rankings for the first time since 2018. His 260-week wait was the third longest in the history of the rankings.
Sinner will be the favorite against Dimitrov, after his display of power and skill at Hard Rock Stadium defeated Medvedev. The Italian lost to the Russian in last year’s Miami final, but came back from two sets down to beat him in the Australian Open final in January.
The result, this time was beyond doubt as Sinner completely dominated from the start. Sinner broke Medvedev’s first service game to go 2-0 up in the opening set, pinning the Russian in the corner at the end of a long rally before scoring the winner past him.
While the 22-year-old looked fresh and lively, bursting with power from the baseline and inventive when he reached the net, Medvedev struggled to hold serve and the Italian broke again in the fourth game, capitalizing on his fourth point break.
Medvedev, who looked confused, was finally able to survive in the sixth game. But Sinner served at love to complete a first set defeat in just 33 minutes.
Also read: Jannik Sinner meets Medvedev in the 2024 Miami Open semifinals
The same story happened in the second set. Sinner begins to fall out of love. The Russian looked dejected after his shot went wide on break point to trail 4-1, one of a series of poor shots by the 28-year-old.
Sinner encountered little resistance on his way to serve in the match and admitted that his emphatic victory was helped by the unusual nature of his opponent’s game. “I felt great on court today. Usually the more times you play in a tournament, the more comfortable you feel and I was very happy with today’s performance,” he said.
“I think Daniil didn’t feel as good today. He made a lot of mistakes that he doesn’t usually make. So I just took the opportunity. I’m expecting a very tough game.”
Also read: Medvedev Wins His Fourth Title This Year at the Miami Open
Sinner has won five straight matches against Medvedev after losing their first six meetings. Sinner, who enjoyed 19 wins before losing to Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals at Indian Wells, said he now had a very different proposition to when he fell short in last year’s Miami final. “I’m a different player, a different person,” Sinner said.
Medvedev was outspoken in his assessment of his poor performance. Medvedev admitted Sinner played better.
“He played well. I didn’t play well enough. We could talk for hours but in the end I didn’t play well enough. He played well. He won easily. That’s the end of the story, to be honest,” Medvedev said. (AFP/Z-2)
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