Sinner mows down Medvedev to reach third Miami final

Jannik Sinner produced a flawless performance in barely an hour to book a third final at the Miami Masters on Friday with his 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of Daniil Medvedev.

The victory – a preempt of the 2023 final here won by Medvedev – duplicated the worst career loss for the Russian at the Masters level; he also won just three games in the 2019 final in Canada against Rafael Nadal.

Sinner was never under threat as the Italian moved closer to a possible surge to the world No. 2 ranking.

The 20-year-old ranked fourth is bidding to break through here after losing Miami finals last year to Medvedev and in 2021 to Hubert Hurkacz.

Sinner closed the gap in his series with Medvedev to 5-6, advancing to the title match with 16 winners compared to just seven for his opponent.

“I felt great on court,” the winner said. “The farther I go here the more comfortable I feel.

“I’m very happy with the performance. 

“Daniil made a lot of mistakes and I took my chances. I was expecting a really tough match. Let’s see what happens in the final.”

Sinner said that heading into his third final in Florida, he’s a changed player.

“I remember the night before  my first final here, I was swearing and could not sleep. 

“Now it’s much better. I’m excited to be back in a final and I’m hoping to play well on Sunday.

Sinner will take on the winner from Grigor Dimitrov and Alexander Zverev.

The win over Medvedev was Sinner’s fifth in a row in that series and makes the Italian the first ATP player to reach three finals this season (he won the Australian open and Rotterdam to start the year).

Sinner notched his Tour-leading 21st victory of 2024, with his only coming barely a week ago against Carlos Alcaraz.