Daniil Medvedev reached the 1/8 finals of the Miami Open

At the ongoing Miami Open – the second American tournament of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Masters 1000 category in March with a prize fund of $9 million – its current champion Daniil Medvedev is performing successfully so far. Having won his second victory in this competition – over the famous Briton Cameron Norrie in two sets – the Russian advanced to the 1/8 finals against the German Dominik Köpfer. Meanwhile, the leader of this season, Italian Jannik Sinner, Medvedev’s potential opponent in the semifinals, defeated the Dutchman Tallon Grixpoor in only three games.

Tournament Miami Open, which concludes a three-month stretch of hard court competition in the tennis calendar, is in many ways considered the antipode of the previous major March competition, held in the first half of the month in Indian Wells. The reason is the climate, which is much more humid in Florida than in the Californian desert, and the speed characteristics of the surfaces used in these two competitions. In Miami, the courts are noticeably faster and suit some tennis players much better. However, Daniil Medvedev, now a two-time Indian Wells finalist, for the second year in a row demonstrates the ability to instantly adapt to changing conditions and time zones. Last season he achieved a landslide victory at the Miami Open and is still showing confident play, although he again only had a few days to rest after the recent defeat to Carlos Alcaraz.

For a 96-player tournament where you’re likely to get relatively weak opponents early on, Medvedev didn’t have much luck with the draw.

Having entered the fight from the second round, in 79 minutes, without ever giving up his serve, he dealt with the famous Hungarian Marton Fucsovics, who, although not very stable, is capable of big surprises on a good day. Then the Russian hit Briton Cameron Norrie. The 28-year-old left-hander’s career is now in decline. He stood in the top twenty for a long time, in the second half of 2022 he even clung to the top ten for several weeks, although even now, having dropped to 31st place, he remains a qualified master with a good sense of the ball and a fundamental game on the back line. which allows you to cause problems for almost any opponent.

In general, the match was not the most difficult for Medvedev, although in this case he could not avoid changes. Having led 3:0 with two breaks, the Russian lost his advantage by the end of the first game, but in the 11th game he managed to take advantage of Norrie’s uncertainty and again took someone else’s serve. True, the second set was much easier for Medvedev. He lost only two goals on his serve and, if necessary, added variety to his actions with successful runs to the net.

The result is 7:5, 6:1 in 81 minutes, and in the fourth round Medvedev will meet with German tennis player Dominik Köpfer, whom he had previously defeated twice at the US Open.

At the same time, it is already clear that Medvedev’s position in the ranking will not be affected in any way by his result in Miami. In any case, the Russian will remain fourth, although if he retains the Florida title, he will get closer to last year’s finalist Jannik Sinner, with whom he can now meet in the semifinals.

The Italian champion of the Australian Open, by the way, on Sunday unexpectedly experienced serious problems in a meeting with the Dutchman Tallon Grixpoor. Having given up the first set, he achieved a turning point only at the very end of the second game, winning – 5:7, 7:5, 6:1. However, Sinner looks like a clear favorite in the bottom quarter of the bracket. Next he will have to deal with the Australian Christopher O’Connell, and the winner of this match will face the Czech Tomas Machac or the Italian Matteo Arnaldi, who are unlikely to be able to stop the clear leader of the first two and a half months of this season.

Evgeniy Fedyakov