Jannik Sinner has long been a top-level tennis player, so fans of Daniil Medvedev had fair fears before the next meeting of the two players.

On the way to the final of the tournament in Miami, the Italian dealt with Andrei Rublev and Carlos Alcaraz, and this is already a very serious signal. The Russian in the semi-finals turned out to be stronger than his compatriot Karen Khachanov. But few would have thought that Daniil would be so good in the decisive match.

It was as if Sinner wasn’t even on the court!

Everyone was waiting for the battle

The final in Miami was Medvedev’s fifth in a row, having won three of the four main matches before that. The Russian had a great half of the 2023 season and clearly had no intention of stopping. After the Australian Open, Danya took 25 out of 26 matches, and lost only to the same Alcaraz, whom Sinner defeated in the semi-finals. Medvedev admitted that he had finally “caught the wave.”

At the same time, one could not expect easy success in the confrontation with Sinner. Even though the Russian tennis player had previously won all five head-to-head matches. Still, the Italian was not yet the athlete he has become this season. And it’s also impossible to win endlessly; at some point there had to be a misfire. Take even the final of the tournament in Rotterdam, where Daniil needed three sets to put the finishing touches on his opponent. In general, everything indicated that the final in Miami would be bright and stubborn. Yannick himself understood this.

“I’m happy that I’ll be able to play with Daniil in the final again. Yes, I lost in our last match, but everything can change in Miami. I’m ready to make changes to my game, as I already managed to do in the match with Alcaraz. It looks like I’m doing well on this court,” Sportskeeda quotes the Italian.

Daniil Medvedev / Photo: © Marco Canoniero / Contributor / LightRocket / Gettyimages.ru

Medvedev showed why he was the first racket of the world

I must admit that in the first set Yannick really tried and kept the intrigue up to a certain point. Medvedev took the first game to zero, but then he started having problems. In the fifth game, the Russian made three double faults at once and eventually allowed Sinner to convert one of his break points. True, Danya immediately made a reverse break and equalized the score – 3:3.

In many ways, this is what distinguishes Medvedev this season. At key moments, he is extremely concentrated and ready to correct mistakes. Such psychological confidence always unnerves opponents. Daniil also wisely delayed the rallies, realizing that after the difficult semi-final with Alcaraz, Sinner did not have much strength left. And this tactic worked. The Russian did not wait for a tiebreaker, took someone else’s serve and brought the game to victory – 7:5.

In the second set, Medvedev completely carried the Italian off the court. Danya immediately made a break and led with a score of 2:0. Yannick tried with all his strength to return and was even able to level the situation. But it looks like he spent all his energy on it. It was clear how much strength the Russian had. He chased his opponent into the corners and felt like he could have played 3-4 more games that evening. By that time, there was no doubt that Medvedev would win.

And so it happened. Daniil calmly won the fourth title of the season at that time and proved that it was not for nothing that he was the first racket of the world and could become so again.

– I’m really very happy. It was a difficult match and the weather was very hot. The conditions were not the easiest. I don’t know how Sinner felt in this regard, but it was not easy for me, although I tried not to show it,” Medvedev said modestly after the match.

After that evening in Miami, Daniil still lost twice to the Italian, but today in the semi-finals of the Final Tournament, the Russian needs to remember that Yannick, in fact, has always been his “client”. Even if now all of Italy will worry about him.