Medvedev again proves to be Sinner’s kryptonite as the Russian wins his first Miami Open
Tennis fans who attended the intense Friday night Miami Open semifinal thriller between World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and 11th-ranked Jannick Sinner might want to consider that match the final, because the real one Sunday afternoon was a two-set, ho-hum, march to the crystal trophy.
World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev defeated No. 11 Jannick Sinner of Italy 7-5, 6-3 in 1 hour 35 minutes of low drama at Hard Rock Stadium to win his first Miami Open and 19th ATP title — all 19 at different events, and 18 of them on hard surfaces. He is now 6-0 against Sinner and will rise to No 4 when the new rankings are released Monday.
“As we heard from the crowd, I think everyone enjoyed the semifinal against Carlos,’’ Medvedev, 27, immediately told Sinner during the on-court trophy presentation. “It was amazing, and I’m probably a little bit lucky because I was at that time already in bed watching you running all over the place — both of you.
“Maybe today I know it’s not easy to recover after such a match.’’
Novak Djokovic, will return to his World No. 1 ranking on Monday. Sinner will rise to No. 9.
Sinner, whose normally ferocious groundstrokes were riddled by dozens of unforced errors, said he woke up Sunday feeling “a little bit sick.” He was not his usual, bouncy self from the start. Friday night, when Sinner wasn’t repeatedly pumping his fists, he was using his hands and dancing fingers to summon the crazed crowd to cheer even louder after impossibly difficult points. Sunday there was little emotion, and temperatures approaching 90 had him wilted and needing the aid of an ATP trainer to administer what he said was salt during a first-set changeover.
“You know, with the heat, when you run a lot, it gets a little bit worse and worse,’’ said Sinner, who also lost in the 2021 Miami Open final. “Obviously the first half an hour we played in the sun also. When the rallies were long today, I was struggling the point or two points after. But as I said, I don’t want to take away anything. I tried. We went out of the court and we believed, because if you step on the court, you have to believe [you’re] trying to win.”
Converting break points
Medvedev had six double faults Sunday, but converted four of six break points. The Italian converted two of six break points, and had six aces to Sinner’s nine. The Stadium Court capacity crowd (13,200) was subdued compared to Friday’s frenzy, yet tried to get Sinner back in the groove with some hearty cheering after the Italian broke Medvedev early in the second set. But that didn’t last long.
The 6-foot-6 Medvedev, who spent 16 weeks as the World No. 1 last year, has won 24 of his past 25 matches, earning titles this season in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai, and reaching the final in the previous tournament at Indian Wells. Medvedev has now reached the finals of all hard court ATP Masters 1000, ATP Finals and Grand Slam Events in his career. Miami is his first Masters 1000 title since winning 2021 Toronto.
“Really happy,’’ Medvedev said. “It’s the best start of the season I have ever had. Amazing amount of points won. For sure a pity there was no Grand Slam at this period of time, but yeah, generally super happy and looking forward to the season even more.”
After last year’s Miami Open, Medvedev had surgery to repair a sports hernia and didn’t play again until the French Open. The clay season starts now, and Medvedev is not known for his prowess on that surface.
“I know that I can play well on clay,’’ Medvedev said. “I beat Novak once on clay. I actually beat [Stefanos] Tsitsipas and Novak at the same tournament once, wow. That’s pretty good achievement on clay.
“On hard courts like here, many of the matches I didn’t play my best tennis, but I managed to win them and the tournament. Clay court is tougher for me. If I don’t play my best tennis, I can lose much easier.”
What makes Medvedev so tough for Sinner?
Medvedev too tough
“Somehow my shots don’t let him, and I don’t do it on purpose, expose his game, which is hitting winners all over the place,’’ Medvedev said. “Like the match against Carlos, the match against [Andrey] Rublev, [Emil] Ruusuvuori, he was just blasting the ball past his opponents, doing unbelievable winners. Somehow my ball doesn’t let him do it, or maybe I’m reading his game a little bit better, so I’m pushing him more to the error.”
“I feel like already this year he’s stepping up, stepping up, so he starts to miss less and less. He’s getting definitely closer and closer, but I hope I can continue bringing him this trouble because I’m sure I’m going to see him in the later stages of tournaments if I manage to play well.’’
As for the Friday semifinal, Medvedev agreed “100 percent’’ that it was human nature that the intensity and exhilaration of that victory might have sapped some drive and energy from his opponent for Sunday’s anticlimactic final.
“The further you go in the tournament, the tougher the opponent,’’ Medvedev said. “So sometimes in the semis you can have a crazy match. Sometimes you play a semifinal and give it all emotionally and it can be really tough to get ready for the final. And that’s experience.
“I also heard he got also a little bit sick so that doesn’t help. You learn from it.”
Women’s doubles
In the women’s doubles finals Sunday, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula defeated Leylah Fernandez and Taylor Townsend 7-6, 6-2.
“Yeah, we’re super excited,’’ Gauff, of Delray Beach, said. “This tournament is one of those tournaments that you grow up watching, and I think it feels even more special than some of the other 1000s we won. Doing it in front of our family, it means a lot. I’m glad that we were able to have that result, especially, you know, I think our quarters, final match, we weren’t looking like we were going to be in this position but we hung in there. Today honestly I don’t think we could have played a better match.”
This story was originally published April 2, 2023 at 7:54 PM.
