Jannik Sinner, the Australian Open champion, ended Tomas Machac’s incredible run at the ATP Masters event, advancing him to the Miami semi-finals.
With his explosive power and accuracy, second-seeded Sinner defeated his Czech opponent, rated 60th, 6-4, 6-2.
Machac advanced to the first Masters quarterfinal by defeating Andy Murray and Andrey Rublev, but Sinner’s skill level was too high.
The 22-year-old Italian will play Daniil Medvedev, the third seed, in a replay of the Australian Open final from January.
At Melbourne Park, he defeated the Russian to win his first Grand Slam championship, and he has since maintained his excellent form.
The world number three advanced to the Indian Wells semifinals, where he was defeated by Carlos Alcaraz for his lone loss. He had already won another championship in Rotterdam.
Sinner and Alcaraz are developing a growing rivalry, and on Thursday, when the 20-year-old Spaniard takes on Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the last eight, they are still expected to face off in the Miami final.
Sinner overcame an early break of serve against the 23-year-old Machac and then settled into a rhythm to make it to the final four without any more significant issues.
Without having to face another break point, he converted four of the eleven that he had to get to the semifinals for the third time in his career.
Sinner remarked, “I feel fantastic physically; I’m simply delighted to compete.”
“We work really hard to earn these spots, so I’m excited to be back in the semifinals.”
After defeating Sinner in the Miami final the previous year, Medvedev secured his final four spot with a 6-2, 7-6 (9-7) victory over Chile’s Nicolas Jarry.
In the opening set, the reigning champion committed just three unforced errors compared to Jarry’s fourteen. He battled back in the second set tiebreak to secure the victory in just 68 minutes.
“I felt I was playing at a good level in the first set, not doing anything extra, just enough to win,” Medvedev remarked.
“Subsequently, his performance improved significantly, resulting in difficult rallies and points. In the tie-break, it came down to a few points because of his improved serving.”
(BBC)
