Sinner, Medvedev book Miami Open semis clash

MIAMI – World No. 3 Jannik Sinner will face defending champion Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals of the Miami Open — a rematch of the Australian Open final won by Sinner and last year's Miami title match.

Sinner moved into the last four in emphatic style on Wednesday, beating Czech Tomas Machac, 6-4, 6-2, before Medvedev overcame a stern test against Chilean Nicolas Jarry before emerging with a 6-2, 7-6 (9/7) win.

Italy's Sinner, who rallied from two sets down to beat Medvedev and claim his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, will play in his fourth semifinal of the season after dealing with lively Machac in 91 minutes.

Sinner broke the opening game serve from the Czech but Machac responded immediately to make it 1-1.

The crowd were on their feet to appreciate some brilliant defensive play from Sinner, who eventually took charge of the set, breaking to go 4-3 up and then closing out.

The second set was more straightforward with Sinner breaking in the third game and never looking back.

Despite the comfortable margin of the win, Sinner said Machac deserved praise for his energetic and aggressive performance.

"He has an incredible talent. He is super-fast, also physically he is in great shape," said the World No. 3.

"I didn't know exactly what to expect today. The first games I was looking a little bit at what kind of tactics could work or not," he added.

"I played good, especially in the important moments of the match, which makes it... the scoreboard, you see the score, but it's sometimes lying. Today was a little bit like that," said Sinner.

Medvedev ran away with the first set against Jarry, who was slow out of the blocks.

But the second set was a different story with the Chilean, roared on by heavily Latin American crowd, finding his big serve.

The pair were inseparable, with plenty of entertaining rallies, until the tiebreaker.

Medvedev missed a chance to win the match at 6-5 up when he came to the net for a routine conversion on match point but found the net — prompting a huge roar from the Chilean fans.

A thumping ace from Jarry made it 7-7 but it was followed with a poor effort, which flew long and then on the third match point Medvedev wrapped