Jannik Sinner, the winner of the Australian Open, defeated Tomas Machac 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday to win his 20th match of 2024 and advance to the Miami Open semifinals for the third time in the previous four years.
After Russia defeated No. 22 seed Nicolas Jarry later on Wednesday, Sinner, the second seed, will now play No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals.
Sinner, who improved to 20-1 overall, will play in his fourth final four of the season against Medvedev. In 2021 and 2023, he made it to the finals of this competition but lost both times.
“It was a really tough match, but I was happy about the performance,” Sinner stated.
According to Sinner, 22, Machac made a good first impression and his aggressiveness kept the score close for a while. Sinner advanced to the following round, though, continuing his incredible run of breaking his opponent’s serve four times.
“I always say when it all feels good on the court, it’s easy to play tennis,” he stated. “But it has to start off in a practice session when you don’t feel well, but you still have to practice and this can make the difference.”
Sinner went on, “At the moment, I feel really good on the court,”
Another difficult challenge will come from the tournament’s reigning Miami champion, Medvedev, a Russian who has been in dominant form and advanced to the semifinals without dropping a set.
In his match against Chilean Jarry, he was pushed hard in the second set but prevailed in the tiebreak, sealing the victory on his third match point.
“The first set I feel like I was playing a good level, nothing like extra, and it was enough to win,” Medvedev stated.
“Tough rallies and tough points. He served better and it was a matter of a few points on the tiebreak, like it is sometimes in tennis… Happy that I managed to win.”
Medvedev anticipated a formidable challenge from Sinner.
“He’s playing better and better. He’s confident. Even some matches I watch on TV and he’s in a little trouble he manages to find solutions and that’s what champions do,” Medvedev continued.
In the women’s draw, No. 5 seed Jessica Pegula was defeated 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 by 14th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova, who had earlier defeated top-seeded Iga Swiatek. Alexandrova qualified for her first-ever Miami Open semifinal appearance.
“I think it’s like the biggest achievement for me today on this court, and semifinal is a big bonus,” Alexandrova stated.
Alexandrova’s opponent is Danielle Collins, who won 6-3, 6-2 over Caroline Garcia, the 23rd seed.
For the first time since she qualified six years ago, Collins will compete in the Miami semifinal round on Thursday.
Garcia had just defeated Naomi Osaki and Coco Gauff, the winners of the Grand Slam, in back-to-back matches. However, the streak ran out against Collins, who required just 80 minutes to progress after winning 10 of the 11 sets this season.
Against Garcia, Collins improved to 4-0 in her career; Garcia never faced a break point during the contest. Collins played down his impressive performance.
“Against someone like Caro, it forces me to be more concentrated, because I know I don’t want to give her an inch,” Collins stated.