Daily Times

MIAMI: Top seed Carlos Alcaraz moved to within two wins of completing the “Sunshine Double” with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Taylor Fritz at the Miami Open on Thursday while Daniil Medvedev ended the dream run of American qualifier Christopher Eubanks. In a high-quality clash between two players who reached the quarter-final without dropping a set, defending champion Alcaraz never trailed and frustrated the top-ranked American with a potent mix of power, sublime shotmaking and relentless hustle. Both players reached the last eight without dropping a set in Miami and while ninth-seed Fritz showed great fight he was unable to match Alcaraz’s level in a match originally scheduled for Wednesday but postponed due to rain.

The Spaniard consolidated an opening break to go up 2-0 and while Fritz held his serve after that he was unable to convert either of his break point chances as Alcaraz used stellar net play to swat both aside en route to sealing the opening set. Alcaraz broke to love to start the second set, had a speedy hold to love to pull ahead 3-1 as Fritz started to unravel and then went up a double break for a 5-2 lead before ending it in style with a hold to love.

“A little bit of nerves at the beginning of the match, it was new for me playing against him, never played him before,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “Of course I am really happy with the way that I started the match with no mistakes and with a lot of power. It was a key for me to break the serve at the beginning.” Up next for Alcaraz will be a clash with 10th-seed Jannik Sinner, whom the Spaniard beat in the Indian Wells semi-final to improve to 3-2 in head-to-head meetings with the Italian.

If Alcaraz lifts the title in Miami, he would become only the eighth man to win the Indian Wells and Miami tournaments back-to-back, a feat known as the “Sunshine Double” given the tournaments’ locations in California and Florida. Fourth-seed Medvedev trailed 3-2 in the first set before rain interrupted play but when the match resumed 30 minutes later he was a man on a mission as he won the next five games and never trailed again. Medvedev broke Eubanks for a fourth time to seal the win on his third match point when the American sent a forehand smash wide as the red-hot Russian prevailed 6-3 7-5 and has now won 22 of his past 23 matches.

“I didn’t play my best before (the rain delay). The rain helped me go out and have more energy,” said Medvedev. “It helped me and I only played better and better, apart from one bad game on my serve, but it happens.” Medvedev will next face fellow Russian Karen Khachanov, who advanced with a 6-3 6-2 win over Argentine Francisco Cerundolo. In other action, twice Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova beat Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4 3-6 6-3 to set up a semi-final clash with unseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea.