Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have quickly formed one of the most exciting rivalries on the ATP Tour.

Possessing thunderous groundstrokes and incredible agility, the 19-year-old Spaniard and 21-year-old Italian have already clashed on the biggest stages and are poised to do so plenty in the next decade.

With Alcaraz leading Sinner 3-2 in their ATP Head2Head series, they will meet again on Friday in the semi-finals at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

“I [am] happy to play against him again because I look forward to these kind of matches,” Sinner said when looking ahead to the clash. “I feel like he makes me a better player. Here the court is fast. I think we both feel good here on these courts.”

Ahead of their sixth encounter, ATPTour.com looks at three of their past blockbusters.

Wimbledon 2022, Fourth Round, Sinner d. Alcaraz 6-1, 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-3
Just hours after Wimbledon looked back to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Centre Court, Sinner and Alcaraz provided a glimpse of the future with their first Grand Slam meeting in the fourth round.

In the first Centre Court match for both, Sinner overwhelmed Alcaraz with his pure ball-striking and had two match points to wrap up a straight-sets win before Alcaraz found his rhythm to take the third-set tie-break. After converting on his fourth set point, the Spaniard raised his racquet, soaking in the crowd’s roar.

As the match grew more physical, Sinner stemmed the tide with two battling holds to open the fourth set, then scored the decisive break to edge ever closer to his third major quarter-final. After missing out on three further match points on return at 5-3, Sinner saved a break point as he served out one of the most entertaining matches of the fortnight. A forehand winner — Sinner’s 35th of the match — completed the victory after three hours and 35 minutes.

“Carlos is a very tough opponent and a very nice person, so it is always a huge pleasure for me to play against him,” said Sinner, who would fall to Novak Djokovic in five sets in the quarter-finals.

_{^{Photo Credit: Adrian Dennis/Getty Images}}

US Open 2022, QF, Alcaraz d. Sinner 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-7(0), 7-5, 6-3
In one of the matches of the 2022 season, Alcaraz and Sinner battled late into the New York night. Across five hours and 15 minutes of twists and turns, the only constant was elite tennis and tireless effort from both men. Alcaraz and Sinner took turns lighting up Arthur Ashe Stadium, flashing their tremendous athleticism and power in equal measures.

Sinner dominated the third-set tie-break to take a two-sets-to-one lead and carried his momentum into the fourth set as he scored an instant break. But the fearless Alcaraz erased a match point with Sinner serving at 5-4 and went on a run of four straight games to force a fifth set. Again trailing by a break, the Spaniard repeated that feat by winning four games in a row in the fifth set to claim victory at 2:50 a.m.

“Honestly, I still don’t know how I did it,” Alcaraz said. “You have to believe in yourself. I believed in my game. It was really difficult to close out the match. I tried to stay calm, but it is difficult in the moment.

“The energy I received in this court at 3 a.m., it was unbelievable. Probably in other tournaments, everybody [would go] to their house to rest. But they [stayed] in the court, supporting me. It was unbelievable.”

Alcaraz went on to claim his first Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows and by doing so he became the youngest World No. 1 in the history of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

BNP Paribas Open 2023, SF, Alcaraz d. Sinner 7-6(4), 6-3
Carlos Alcaraz captured his third ATP Masters 1000 crown at the BNP Paribas Open earlier this month, returning to No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings following his triumph. The Spaniard did not drop a set en route to the title, but was pushed the hardest by Sinner in the pair’s semi-final clash in Indian Wells.

In another entertaining battle, the bulk of the drama came in a back-and-forth opening set as Sinner took full advantage of a dip in level from his opponent to turn a 2-4 deficit into a 5-4 lead, winning 11 straight points in the process. Sinner kept the pressure on to create a set point at 6-5, but a uniquely Alcaraz combination — big serve, drop shot, volley winner — erased the chance and ensured the set would be decided in a tie-break.

Encouraged by his escape, the Spaniard powered through the tie-break and carried his momentum into set two, when he consolidated an early break with a point-of-the-season contender, planting a topspin lob on the baseline after a Sinner dipper forced him to retreat from the net. He later wriggled out of 0/30 to hold for 5-2, and served out the match with ease behind a pair of punishing forehand winners.

“I’m really happy to get through this great match. Jannik obviously is a really great player with great shots,” Alcaraz said. “I would say we’re going to have a great rivalry over the years. We are playing in the best tournaments in the world. It’s not over here. We are going to play a lot of great matches.”

View their ATP H2H series here.

Facing a high-level performance from home favourite Taylor Fritz at the Miami Open presented by Itau, Carlos Alcaraz proved once again that he is all but untouchable at his best. In a Thursday night quarter-final, the World No. 1 kept the American at arm’s length in an efficient 6-4, 6-2 victory to continue his quest for the Sunshine Double — a rare title sweep across Indian Wells and Miami.

“A little bit of nerves at the beginning of the match. It was new for me, playing against him,” Alcaraz said of his first meeting with Fritz. “I knew that I had to play my game, the way that I was playing the previous matches, a high level for me. Of course I’m very happy with the way I started the match, with no mistakes and with a lot of power. It was a key for me to break his serve at the beginning and then [play] my game.”

Needing to retain his Miami crown to remain atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Alcaraz did his damage early in both sets, taking control with an instant break of serve in each. Fritz fought back well in the opener and was arguably the better player after the first game, but Alcaraz erased two break points — both in supreme style with half-volleys — to cling to his lead.

With both men eager to attack, Alcaraz again landed the first blow in set two. This time, he was more assured in closing out the set, rattling off the final three games to secure the win in one hour, 18 minutes. Both men finished with 20 winners, but Alcaraz kept his unforced error count down to 13 while Fritz committed 28 miscues. The Spaniard won three of his five break points, converting in each game in which he created a break opportunity.

Both Alcaraz and Fritz entered Thursday with 2-0 season records against Top 10 opponents. With the victory, his 10th in a row, Alcaraz improved to 18-1 overall in 2023. He is now two wins from becoming the first man since Roger Federer in 2017 to claim the trophies at Indian Wells and Miami in succession.

The Spaniard’s quest for history will continue with a Friday semi-final showdown with Jannik Sinner, a rematch of their Indian Wells meeting at the same stage. The Italian will have an extra day of rest entering their sixth ATP Head2Head meeting, with his Wednesday win against Emil Ruusuvuori beating the rain that postponed the Alcaraz-Fritz matchup to Thursday.

“I’ve played against him in the final rounds of tournaments. That means he is playing a great level,” said Alcaraz, who holds a 3-2 lead in their budding rivalry. “Of course I am sure that we are going to play for big things in the future. I can’t wait to see our [improvement].”

For Fritz, the defeat puts him in jeopardy of falling out of the Top 10 one month after he reached a career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking of No. 5. If Karen Khachanov defeats Daniil Medvedev in Friday’s semis, he will move ahead of the American at World No. 10. A titlist in Delray Beach and a quarter-finalist in Indian Wells, Fritz holds a 13-3 record on home soil this season.

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.

Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. 

While Daniil Medvedev did not exactly deliver that coaching cliche in his Thursday press conference at the Miami Open presented by Itau, he did explain the importance of both factors in his success — and the forces that drive him to push himself in training.

Discussing his mental strength, Medvedev explained the focus he puts on that aspect of his game, stemming from his hatred of losing.

“You never know what’s more important, talent or hard work. Actually both are,” he said. “Starting from when I was really young, no matter which game I play, I hate to lose. So I actually hate to lose more than I like to win, and you can kind of see this on the court. I think that’s a good thing.

“But if you don’t work [at] it, that can become a bad thing, because that’s when you can sometimes maybe stop practising hard, because that’s going to release some pressure off you. If you don’t practise hard, you say, ‘Yeah, well, I lost the match because I didn’t practise well enough.’ That’s a little bit weak.”

The Miami fourth seed also credited his work with mental coaches, though he did not employ one last season during a down year by his standards. He is once again working with a mental coach this season.

“That’s something I want to improve,” he said. “For example, talking about Indian Wells, I had my tantrums, which it’s not good. It can throw you out from the concentration, and it’s not a good look anyway, but I managed to still win matches and still be concentrated during those matches.”

Medvedev has been rock solid in both his game and his mentality this tournament, winning all six sets he’s played in reaching the Miami semis for the first time. After a 6-3, 7-5 win against qualifier and home favourite Christopher Eubanks on Thursday, he will need to be even sharper when he takes on good friend and 14th seed Karen Khachanov in Friday’s semis.

The opponents grew up together and rose through the junior and professional ranks at similar times. They will contest their fifth ATP Head2Head meeting in Miami, with Medvedev holding a 3-1 advantage.

“I think maybe just a little bit you have to kind of force yourself even more to be focused, and when I say this, it’s just because they know your game so well and you know theirs so well,” Medvedev said of the matchup. “I’m almost sure we know how the match is going to go tomorrow, and it’s a question of who’s going to make the best shot out of [the shots] we’re going to play.”

The semi-final will open Friday’s play on the Miami stadium court at 1 p.m. local time.

Karen Khachanov advanced to the semi-finals at an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time since 2019 Thursday when he moved past Argentine Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 6-2 at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

After falling a break down in the first set, the 26-year-old quickly recovered to ensure it was one-way traffic from then. The big-hitting 14th seed crushed 18 winners and drove the ball through the quick court to force Cerundolo into errors, sealing his victory after 75 minutes.

“At the end of the day it was a question of finding rhythm,” Khachanov said. “At the beginning, it was pretty windy and I couldn’t figure out where the wind was coming through. I then started to hit through the ball more and then I felt better and better. After I broke him back I felt I am on a good rise and felt that I could not miss. That is a good feeling to have during a match.

“I think I have improved my mentality and self belief a lot. I am enjoying the process. I think the results speak for themselves and I am happy it is paying off.”

Cerundolo entered the match holding an 8-1 record in Miami, having soared to the semi-finals on debut last year. The 24-year-old was unable to earn his first victory against Khachanov and reach the last four again, however, committing 22 unforced errors.

Khachanov won his only ATP Masters 1000 title in Paris in 2018, before he advanced to the semi-finals in Toronto in 2019. He will continue the quest for his fifth tour-level title and first since Paris five years ago when he plays Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals.

“We grew up together and everytime I play against Daniil or Andrey [Rublev], it is not easy because we are good friends,” Khachanov said looking ahead to his match against Medvedev. “But on the court we are rivals. We played in Adelaide this year and he beat me pretty solid, so I will try to approach this match differently.”

Khachanov is up five spots to No. 11 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings and will jump back into the Top 10 if he wins the title. Earlier this season, he advanced to the semi-finals at the Australian Open.

Daniil Medvedev reached the semi-finals at the Miami Open presented by Itau for the first time Thursday when he overcame qualifier Christopher Eubanks 6-3, 7-5 to end the American’s dream run in South Florida.

In a rain-disrupted clash, the fourth seed absorbed Eubanks’ powerful serve and hit through the middle of the court to cut off angles. He struck a number of winners past the onrushing Eubanks, who closed the net frequently, while he recovered from squandering a break advantage in the second set to advance after one hour and 30 minutes.

“I didn’t play my best before [the rain delay]. The rain helped me go out and have more energy,” Medvedev said on the rain delay which suspended play at 2-3 in the first set. “It helped me and I only played better and better, apart from one bad game on my serve, but it happens.”

Medvedev, who fell at the quarter-final stage in Miami in 2021 and 2022, will aim to reach his fifth consecutive tour-level final when he faces Karen Khachanov or Francisco Cerundolo in the last four.

The 27-year-old is now 27-3 on the season, having won 22 of his past 23 matches. Medvedev has lifted trophies in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai during that run and reached the final in Indian Wells, where World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz ended his 19-match winning streak.

“I have never had such a good start to the season. A lot of matches won, tournaments won. I am really happy,” Medvedev said. “I was disappointed at Indian Wells when my streak ended on the same number as last time. The only thing you can do is begin a new streak and I am happy to bring my form into Miami.”

Eubanks has enjoyed a dream run in Miami. After coming through qualifying, the 26-year-old earned victories against Denis Kudla, Borna Coric, Gregoire Barrere and Adrian Mannarino, rising 34 spots to No. 85 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Did You Know?
Medvedev will rise to No. 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings if he wins the title in Miami.

Editor’s note: This story was translated from ATPTour.com/es

The conditions, the climate, the number of Argentinians supporting him in every match of the tournament, the relaxation brought by the city’s beaches, the memories of happiness when he first discovered Crandon Park as a child… There are many reasons for Francisco Cerundolo’s extraordinary success competing at the Miami Open presented by Itau, where one year ago he was a semi-finalist on his ATP Masters 1000 debut and now is in the quarter-finals.

But there is another factor that is just as important: superstition.

“Since last year, at this tournament, we’ve had several superstitions. And they must be respected,” explained Cerundolo’s Argentine coach Kevin Konfederak. “One of the superstitions is returning to the restaurant where we eat and having the same meal. And everyone knows what they have to order. But I can’t say any more because I don’t want to jinx it.”

There are even some superstitions that do not directly involve Cerundolo, but some friends that have been with him since the start of the tournament. They are responsible for bringing luck simply by sitting in the box while the 24-year-old is playing.

“They are lucky charms, of course. They also came last year, and they are staying. You don’t change things like that,” Konfederak said.

_{^{Photo Credit: ATP Tour}}
Konfederak also has his own role to play, besides that of coach. His superstition, just like that of Mariano Gaute, the team’s fitness coach and kinesiologist, takes place in the hotel gym after every Cerundolo win. They have to do 15-second exercises with a 10-second pause between each one. So far there are eight exercises, but a new one is added for each new session. It is obligatory.

In fact, when Cerundolo beat Lorenzo Sonego at 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday to stamp his passage to his second Miami quarter-final, Konfederak and Gaute did their gym session when they got back to the hotel despite the time.

“We were dead by the end of it, really struggling. But, since we ask ‘Fran’ to suffer and fight on court, the least we can do is to suffer ourselves, albeit in the gym. It’s all part of the superstition,” said the 31-year-old coach.

It is a team job, there is no doubt about that. While his entourage invoke good luck, ‘Fran’ channels it on court. So far, it has worked like a charm, especially in Miami. One year ago, as a result of reaching the semi-finals in his first Masters 1000, the 24-year-old right-hander climbed from No. 103 to No. 51 in the world.

“It was the tournament that put me on the radar,” remembers Cerundolo.

“It changed my career, changed my life. Tons of people started to follow me on social media, I had thousands of messages everywhere and I wasn’t used to it. My phone was shutting down because of the sheer number of notifications I was getting.

Even more commendable is that he is just one win away from a repeat of last year’s campaign, and producing some stunning tennis that has allowed him to beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in the third round to claim his third Top 10 win. Another of the keys to his latest long campaign in Miami is his emotional equilibrium on court.

“Over a year ago we decided that, because of his personality, there was no point bottling things up,” explains Konfederak. “Keeping your mouth shut restrains you and generates more tension, it’s no help. So most of my work consists of insisting that he unload, but then immediately concentrates on the next point. Now he’s used to playing and being expressive.”

Konfederak, who was in the Top 500 in 2012 before dedicating his time to his studies, contributes to every aspect of Cerundolo’s learnings. He tries to instil in his understudy all the knowledge he acquired during his time at the Georgia Gwinnett College, where he gained a degree in business and marketing, as well as that obtained through his personal reading, whether it be on tennis, academics or life in general.

“I get a lot of information through what I read and listen to. And I test out what will be of use to ‘Fran’. It’s trial and error. There are some things he takes on, others he doesn’t,” he said.

‘The science of storytelling’, his current book, is about how personalities are determined through the stories we tell others and ourselves. So far, he can see his pupil in the synopsis.

“The story he’s telling through his tennis is a very good one!” he declared proudly.

He hopes that Cerundolo’s tennis continues to speak for itself on Thursday when he crosses paths with Karen Khachanov, who leads their ATP Head2Head series 1-0, having beaten him last year in Montreal.

“Khachanov is a very complete player. He’s playing very well,” Cerundolo said. “He beat me last year in a real tussle. I’m going to focus on my game. And if I carry on the way I’ve been playing, I’m confident.”

If he can maintain the level he has produced all tournament, Konfederak and Gaute will leave Miami fitter than ever after so many sessions in the gym. It will have been well worth it.

Christopher Eubanks has enjoyed a dream run at the Miami Open presented by Itau, where he is set to play Daniil Medvedev in his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.

The American has received an outpouring of support from the fans, peers and even celebrities. Learn more about Eubanks in this edition of Five Things To Know.

Chris Played College Tennis
Eubanks admits he was never one of the United States’ leading juniors. The final year he competed in the USTA Boys’ 18s National Championships, otherwise known as Kalamazoo, he was unseeded. So the American opted to attend Georgia Tech, where he was named ACC Player of the Year twice in his three years competing as a student-athlete.

By his third year on the team, Eubanks became a dominant force, tallying an 18-2 record at No. 1 singles and a 31-6 mark overall. He advanced to the quarter-finals of the NCAA Singles Championships, becoming the first from the school to achieve the feat since Bryan Shelton, father of Eubanks’ good friend Ben Shelton.

He Will Crack The Top 100 For The First Time Monday
It has been a memorable week for Eubanks in Miami. Entering the tournament, his career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking was No. 102. By defeating Gregoire Barrere in the third round, the home favourite guaranteed that he would crack the Top 100 for the first time.

If that was not enough, Eubanks maintained his form to upset Adrian Mannarino for a place in the quarter-finals, boosting him to No. 85 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. A win against Medvedev could propel him into the world’s Top 60.

“The past few weeks have been really, really tough just because I’ve been kind of thinking about Top 100 and everything,” Eubanks said. “I had some losses that I shouldn’t have [had] and I was really second-guessing a lot about my game and everything.”

^{Photo Credit: Peter Staples/ATP Tour}
Eubanks Is Friends With Jamie Foxx
Three years ago, Eubanks posted a video on Instagram of a challenge in which actor Jamie Foxx tried to return one of the 6’7” right-hander’s serves. In the first few seconds of the video, Foxx was knocked over by the power of the serve.

The pair have become good friends since. The actor congratulated Eubanks on an emotional victory in the Miami third round, writing on Instagram that, “Blood sweat and tears and true hard work has paid off for my good friend @chris_eubanks96 tennis is your passion, my friend continue to rise and congratulations on breaking into the top 100 players in the world! 🎾 💪🏾”.

“It’s amazing man. It’s really, really cool,” Eubanks told the media Tuesday of Foxx’s support. “I’ve known Foxx for two, three years now and he’s become a really, really close friend, someone I can call if I just want to kind of talk through life a little bit.”

 

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A post shared by Jamie Foxx (@iamjamiefoxx)

His WTA Friends Include Gauff, Osaka, Keys & Stephens
After defeating Barrere in the third round and returning to the players’ area inside Hard Rock Stadium, Eubanks FaceTimed with Coco Gauff. She is not the only WTA star he is friends with, though.

Last year, Naomi Osaka visited the Dallas Open to watch Eubanks compete.

“For me, it’s kind of weird, just because I look at her as just my friend. That’s what she is,” Eubanks told ATPTour.com last year. “But she’s such a global icon and the reach that she has, it’s pretty incredible. It’s pretty remarkable. I think the way that she handles it is incredibly impressive. I’m just honestly honoured to be able to call her a friend.”

At this year’s Dallas Open, Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens got a good laugh joking about Eubanks in a piece of content created by the tournament.

“Oh Lord,” Stephens said. “Don’t even get me started on that giraffe. Jesus. We love Chris. We love Daddy Longlegs.”

 

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He Was A Stunt Double For His Hero
In the film ‘Citizen Ashe’, a documentary about the life and accomplishments of Arthur Ashe, Eubanks served as a stunt double for Ashe. He also stood in for the legendary figure for the Ashe ’68 Virtual Reality Experience.

Eubanks’ idols growing up were Ashe and Roger Federer.

Be sure to keep a close eye on Arthur’s double during the #CitizenAshe documentary 👀 https://t.co/Ngd0KWydGx

— Christopher Eubanks (@chris_eubanks96) June 15, 2022