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Miami (AFP) – Intractable, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz rushed into the semi-finals in Miami, where he will find Jannik Sinner as in Indian Wells, Daniil Medvedev reaching this stage of the event for the first time, with Karen Khachanov for next opponent.
If he wants to keep his place as world No.1, recovered in the wake of his triumph in California, the 19-year-old Spaniard must remain the master in Florida and thus achieve the “Sunshine Double”, a double the same year as succeeded before him Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Pete Sampras, Marcelo Rios, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
And to see how he crushes his opponents one by one in this American spring, with ten straight victories all in two straight sets, the prodigy from Murcia currently seems untouchable.
Taylor Fritz (10th), whom he faced for the first time and is not strictly speaking a foil on hard, since he had won at Indian Wells last year, was powerless against the tornado in front of him.
Although some hit the mark, most of his cinder blocks came back to him like boomerangs. Because Alcaraz excels in nothing so much as erecting a wall that ends up crashing into its opponents, driven by constant combativeness.
One unforced error
Not content with chaining races and crazy defenses, the winner of the last US Open was still formidable in precision with a single unforced error, converting three of his five break points, while erasing the two chances Fritz had.
He will find on his way one of his best rivals in the person of Jannik Sinner, 21, finalist of the event in 2021, who will try to take his revenge after the semi-final lost in Indian Wells. Alcaraz, who leads 3-2 in their confrontations, also emerged victorious from their Homeric duel, in the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows last year, after 5:15 of fight.
The other semi-final will be 100% Russian, between Medvedev (5th) and Khachanov (16th), the first leading 3-1 in their face-to-face.
“We grew up together… Whenever Daniil plays against Andrey (Rublev) or I play against Andrey or Daniil, it’s never easy. We know each other very well. In Adelaide at the start of the year, he m “had beaten quite dryly. I will try to approach this match differently and we will see how it will go”, anticipated Khachanov, after his easily assured qualification 6-3, 6-2 against the Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo (31st).
Medvedev made him talk about his realism (6-3, 7-5) to contain the ardor of surprise guest Christopher Eubanks (119th), from qualifying. This victory, not so easy to obtain, is the 22nd in 23 matches for the 27-year-old Russian, winner in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai in February.
Kvitova a semi-final
He was clinical in a first run. Evidenced by his two break points converted in as many opportunities, after erasing the five that the American has procured.
“It was complicated. I feel like he did better than me at first. Then I managed to turn things around, putting a lot of pressure on him,” he said. .
Eubanks, however, did not seem affected by this scenario. He was even the most aggressive in the second set, to end up with more winning shots than the Russian (37 against 27) and even fewer unforced errors (10 against 11)! But broken at 4-3, Medvedev made sure to avoid a decisive game that looked like a trap, to close the deal, in 1h29.
Among the women, Petra Kvitova (12th) also reached the semi-finals for the first time, defeating Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (18th) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
The 33-year-old Czech, in search of a 9th title in the WTA 1000, five years after the last won in Madrid, will face the Romanian Sorana Cirstea (74th) who created the surprise on Wednesday by leaving the world N.2 Aryna Sabalenka.
The other poster of the last four opposed in the evening (local time) the Kazakhstani Elena Rybakina (7th), winner in Indian Wells, to the American Jessica Pegula (7th)
© 2023 AFP
