Daniil Medvedev knocked Carlos Alcaraz down from the throne that he had enjoyed at the start of the 2026 season by dismantling him 6-3, 7-6(3) in their Saturday encounter and earned the right to face Jannik Sinner in the final of the Indian Wells Masters.
Alcaraz, the top ranked player in the world, came to the semi-finals with a run of 16 consecutive wins behind him, having crowned himself with Australian Open and Qatar Open trophies in the past few weeks. Still, it was Medvedev’s taxing groundstroking and eminent serving that kept Alcaraz on the defensive most of the time.The ex-number one grabbed the lead in the set by breaking once and after that demonstrated a cool head in the second.
Alcaraz gave it a shot after getting to 3-1 but Medvedev retorted by breaking, went on to save two set points and in the end won the tiebreak.”Really happy to win against someone as powerful as him, ” Medvedev commented post-match. “If you want to win, you have to play close to perfect and today I did it.”
World number two Sinner made light work of first semi-final opponent Alexander Zverev with a 6-2, 6-4 scoreline. Italy’s star youngster came out on top in the only break point scenario that was given to his opponent and On the other hand, he clicked on all cylinders and broke Zverev thrice.
Participating in Indian Wells final for the very first time, Sinner will be up against a Medvedev who last year lost Alcaraz in the finals of 2023 and 2024 and is fresh out of the finals and looking to win his first Masters 1000 title.
