Already a finalist in Indian Wells, where he had not made the weight against Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev once again climbed to the last step this Friday after his success in three sets (7-6, 3-6, 6- 3) against his compatriot Karen Khachanov. The Russian could find Alcaraz in the final.
Daniil Medvedev against Carlos Alcaraz for the title, episode 2? For the moment, we are not there yet. It is indeed necessary that the Spaniard, still impressive against Taylor Fritz in the quarters, wins Saturday in the second semi-final against Jannik Sinner so that the public of Miami can attend a second final in two weeks between the Russian and the youngest world number 1 in history. Either way, the ball is now in the court of the winner of the last US Open, because Medvedev has done the job and his ticket to the final is already in his pocket. It hasn’t been easy though. The Russian indeed had to fight for three sets (7-6, 3-6, 6-3), Friday in the first semi-final to overcome his compatriot Karen Khachanov, who is again playing his best tennis. Evidenced by his victory in the 3rd round against Stefanos Tsitsipas. Medvedev too was able to realize that the former world number 8, now 16th in the hierarchy, can once again compete with the best.
Khachanov unplayable in the second set
For two sets, the winner of the Bercy tournament in 2018 did more than compete with number 5 in the standings. He caused him the worst problems and could very well have brought him down if he had finished the first set, won in the decisive game by Medvedev (7-5) as he had played the second. In the second set, Khachanov indeed looked unplayable. This was not the case in the last set. Committing a lot of faults, especially on the backhand side, the younger of the two Russians played into his opponent’s game, very happy to see the player opposite come down from his cloud. The “Tsar”, impressive since the start of the season (he has already won three titles, in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai), except for his premature exit in Melbourne (3rd round), has set an appointment with his executioner of Indian Wells. Everything suggests that the latter will respond to the invitation.