Daniil Medvedev suffered more humiliation at the hands of Jannik Sinner just two months after the Italian beat him in Australia. Facing off in a rematch of last year’s Miami Open final, Sinner needed just 69 minutes to bulldoze through the defending champion 6-1 6-2.
Medvedev and Sinner were facing off for the second time this year, and it was the world No. 3 who came out on top again. Two months ago, Medvedev led his opponent by two sets in the Australian Open final and was just a couple of games away from lifting his second Major trophy. But Sinner stormed back to win his first Slam.
The 28-year-old was given an opportunity to avenge that defeat when he came up against Sinner in the Miami Open semi-final. 12 months ago, Medvedev beat Sinner in the championship match. But since then, he has lost every match they have played and it was no different on Friday.
Sinner was more dominant than ever as he cruised through the first set for the loss of just one game. The second seed earned an immediate break to start the match and Medvedev failed to capitalise on his own break points before the 22-year-old raced into a 4-0 lead and quickly took the set.
Things went from bad to worse for Medvedev in the second set as Sinner broke to love in the first game. He had a chance to get back on serve at 1-2 down but the Australian Open champion proved relentless and found his biggest serves in the crucial moments, denying Medvedev a chance to break.
Just as quickly as it appeared Medvedev had an opening, the match was close to being over when the 22-year-old broke again and moved to a 5-1 advantage. The Russian had no answers for his opponent and received some whistles from the crowd, who assumed he might not be trying because he was struggling so much. But he managed to get one more game on the board, keeping himself in the match and the tournament for a few more minutes.
There was a glimmer of hope for Medvedev when he took a 0-30 lead with Sinner serving for the match. But only delayed his fate as the world No. 3 closed out an emphatic victory to move into his third final of the season. Sinner was almost perfect, firing down seven aces and recording a 9.5 performance rating from Tennis Data Innovations.
