- The final was won by Russian 7-5, 6-3, giving him his 4th title in the past five weeks.
- The ATP race is currently being led by Medvedev, who also moved back into the top four rankings.
Daniil Medvedev extended his red-hot form to win his maiden title there at Miami Open hosted by Itau while competing in his 5th ATP Tour final. This victory gave him his first title overall on the ATP Tour. Medvedev extended his record to 24-1 in the last five competitions he has participated in, during which he has won four trophies. He defeated Jannik Sinner in two sets, 7-5 and 6-3.
After losing to Carlos Alcaraz in the championship round of the Indian Wells tournament two weeks earlier, the 4th seed played an outstanding match versus Sinner, as he vexed the Italian using his planned baseline approach. After defeating Sinner in the final of Rotterdam in February, Medvedev has improved to a perfect 6-0 record in their head-to-head ATP Head2Head matchup.
I’m over the moon with joy. The match we had today was challenging. After claiming his 5th ATP Masters 1000 championship and his 19th overall tour-level trophy, Medvedev commented on the weather, saying that it was certainly the warmest day and it was especially humid that day. Conditions were not at all favorable. I am unsure whether Jannik suffered from a minor injury or cramps. I, too, was having difficulty, but I made an effort not to let on.
I have not yet won such a huge title in maybe more than a year, he said, noting that he hadn’t experienced the thrill of a Masters 1000 since he claimed Toronto in 2021. Toward the very end, I was shaking quite a bit. Not even close because I’m not nervous about becoming victorious. But despite this, the hands tend to shake, which makes serving a little bit more difficult… I was able to put myself together in the nick of time and win the match.
Now, Medvedev has won 5 out of six Masters 1000 at hard-court ATP tournaments and has advanced to the final of the remaining one (Indian Wells). The 27-year-old player has also reached the final of both of the Grand Slam tournaments played on hard courts, ultimately prevailing in the US Open in 2021. His accomplishments on the surface have carried over to the finals of Nitto ATP, where he triumphed to claim the title in 2020.
The fact that Medvedev has won four trip titles during this season matches his career-high number both from 2019 and 2021, which provides him with a significant possibility to achieve an even greater accomplishment.
In the championship match for Miami, Sinner got out to a strong start and earned its first break as he ended a long game with a challenging drop volley. But, Medvedev quickly responded by demonstrating his reach from of the baseline and luring the Italian into making errors. As Sinner had early success attacking, Medvedev displayed his reach to push his opponent of behind the baseline. However, Medvedev wore down the 10th seed with his steadiness and well-timed assault, which allowed him to win the match.
When the first set was tied 5-5, Medvedev went on a tear, winning the next four games in a row to seize control of the match. He did this by capitalizing on Sinner’s poor groundstrokes. Despite the fact that he looked to be physically deteriorating following his amazing victory over Alcaraz in the semifinals, Sinner found the energy to climb back to 1-2, only to have Medvedev reconstructed his lead at 3-1.
After Sinner created 5 break points in the 5th game of the first set, the 4th seed did not encounter a breakpoint for the remaining matches, and Medvedev played his victory point with no difficulty as he finished the match in one hour and 34 minutes.
With a 600-point advantage over Novak Djokovic, Medvedev has clinched the year’s final No. 1 ranking in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. On Monday, he’ll also rise to number 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.
This year, Medvedev, at age 27, became the 1st male player since 2020 Novak Djokovic to make it to the finals of two consecutive ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (Miami and Indian Wells). He has the most victories on the ATP Tour this year with 29.
On Monday, Sinner will jump up two spots to No. #9 within Pepperstone ATP Rankings, equaling his career-best from back in November 2021. After losing to Hubert Hurkacz in the 2021 Miami ATP Masters 1000 finale, the Italian has become 0-2. The 21-year-old was hoping to follow Fabio Fognini’s 2019 victory in Monte Carlo as the second Italian to win the Masters 1000 title.
