Two Friends, One Finalist: Medvedev, Khachanov Square Off In Miami SFs

A familiar foursome makes up the semi-final lineup at the Miami Open presented by Itau. Three repeat semi-finalists from Indian Wells — Daniil Medvedev, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner — are joined by Karen Khachanov, who reached that stage at each of the past two majors.

The first of Friday’s two matchups will see good friends Medvedev and Khachanov become foes, with the fourth-seeded Medvedev seeking a fifth straight ATP Tour final.

After seeing a 19-match and three-tournament winning streak snapped by Alcaraz in the Indian Wells final, Medvedev said it was time to start a new streak. He’s emphatically done that in Miami, where he has not lost a set in three victories, in addition to a third-round walkover.

“[I’m] in confidence now. I’m playing well, starting from Rotterdam,” said Medvedev, who also won titles in Doha and Dubai on his flawless run. “I managed to bring this [level] here, because it was not that easy,” he added, referring to the transition from slower conditions in Indian Wells to the faster surface in Miami, as well as the three-day gap between his first and second matches due to the walkover.

After ending the dream run of Christopher Eubanks in Thursday’s quarter-finals, Medvedev faces his toughest test of the tournament in Khachanov. The opponents grew up together, rising through the junior and professional ranks at the same time. But neither was a heralded junior until Khachanov began to break through with some big wins around age 15 or 16, as Medvedev recalled.

“We had a good rise together to the ATP Tour,” he said. “We already achieved a lot. It’s great. We still spend time together. We are great friends, and I feel like we respect each other a lot.”

Khachanov, who will turn 27 in May to match Medvedev’s age, brings a seven-set winning streak into the semi-finals, with straight-sets wins against Jiri Lehecka, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Francisco Cerundolo in his past three matches. He also comes into Friday’s matchup with a wealth of recent big-stage experience, having reached the last four at the US Open and the Australian Open.

“Since last year, US Open semi-finals, I think this was kind of a bigger change and bigger step forward, which gave me the current results which I have right now,” he said of the recent improvement in his game. “I would say the confidence and self-belief and all these things, they appear stronger. Now I’m happy that I can show that level constantly and more consistently.”

Nearly four years since he reached a career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking of No. 8 in July 2019, Khachanov is one win away from breaking back into the Top 10. He has moved up five places to No. 11 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings behind his Miami run, and would move ahead of Taylor Fritz by reaching his second ATP Masters 1000 final. If he can repeat his title run from the 2018 Rolex Paris Masters and pick up his fifth tour-level trophy on Sunday, Khachanov would rise to a new high of No. 6.

To keep that dream alive, he must earn his first win against Medvedev since 2018. Medvedev leads their ATP Head2Head 3-1, beginning with a victory in the 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals. Their Miami meeting will be their second in an ATP Masters 1000 semi-final, with Medvedev claiming the spoils at that stage in 2019 in Montreal. Medvedev also won their most recent matchup earlier this season in Adelaide.

“We are good friends outside, but we are rivals on the court,” Khachanov said. “Tomorrow is another match, which I’m very excited to play against him, semi-finals.

“At the end of the day, both of us, we understand why we are here,” he added with a smile. “We practise together. Even in the practices we compete, and we play almost at 100 per cent… We just put friendship aside for a couple of hours and we will be rivals on the court.”

The rivalry will renew at 1 p.m. local time (7 p.m. CET) on Friday as the friends turned foes open play on the Miami stadium court.