Playing in his fifth ATP Tour final is a many tournaments, Daniil Medvedev continued his blistering form to claim his first title at the Miami Open presented by Itau. With a 7-5, 6-3 victory against Jannik Sinner, Medvedev improved to 24-1 in his past five events, which have reaped four titles.
After falling to Carlos Alcaraz two weeks ago in the Indian Wells final, the fourth seed was rock-solid against Sinner as he frustrated the Italian with his calculated baseline game. Medvedev is now 6-0 in his ATP Head2Head against Sinner, also having beaten the Italian in the Rotterdam final in February.
"I'm really happy. Today was a tough match. It was probably the hottest day and the most humid during the day," Medvedev said after winning his fifth ATP Masters 1000 title and 19th career tour-level crown. "It was not easy conditions. I don't know if Jannik had a small injury or cramp. I was also struggling, tried not to show it.
"I haven't won't such a big title in probably a year and a half," he added, not having tasted Masters 1000 glory since he won Toronto in 2021. "At the end I was quite shaky. Not even tight, because I'm not scared to win. But still the hands get a little shaky so the serve is a little bit tougher... I managed to get myself together and close the match."
Medvedev has now won five of the six hard-court ATP Masters 1000s and reached the final in the other (Indian Wells). The 27-year-old has also contested the final at both hard-court Grand Slams, winning the 2021 US Open. His success on the surface has also extended to the Nitto ATP Finals, where he won the 2020 title.
In the Miami final, Sinner made a bright start and scored the first break by ending a marathon game with a difficult drop volley, but Medvedev snapped back by showing his range from the baseline and baiting the Italian into errors. While Sinner had success attacking early, Medvedev showed his range to keep his opponent behind the baseline, ultimately wearing the 10th seed down with his consistency and well-timed aggression.
Insight update 📈@DaniilMedwed defence has been 🔑
— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) April 2, 2023
Set 1 #StealScore 55%
Meddy 52-week avg. 38%
Tour avg. 32%#StealScore calculates how often a player has won the point when they are in defence during the point#TennisInsights |…
Medvedev took control of the match with a four-game burst from 5-5 in the opening set, taking full advantage of some sloppy groundstrokes from Sinner. Though he appeared to be fading physically after his epic win against Alcaraz in the semis, Sinner summoned the energy to break back for 1-2, only to see Medvedev re-establish his advantage at 3-1.
The fourth seed did not face a break point in the match after Sinner created five in the fifth game of set one, and Medvedev served his way to victory with little resistance as he wrapped up the win in one hour, 34 minutes.
The victory extends Medvedev's lead in the calendar-year Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin to 600 points ahead of Novak Djokovic, putting him in pole position in the race for year-end No. 1. He will also move up to No. 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday.
By reaching the Indian Wells and Miami finals this year, both firsts for Medvedev, the 27-year-old became the first man since Djokovic in 2020 to reach consecutive ATP Masters 1000 finals.
Sinner will move up two places to No. 9 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday, matching his career high first achieved in November 2021. The Italian is now 0-2 in ATP Masters 1000 finals, having also lost to Hubert Hurkacz in Miami in 2021. The 21-year-old was denied the honour of becoming the second Italian Masters 1000 champion after Fabio Fognini won Monte Carlo in 2019.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/UWxi4hK
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