Day 9 Preview & Schedule: Medvedev vs. Hurkacz; Alcaraz vs. Kecmanovic

The last two semi-final spots are up for grabs at the Miami Open presented by Itau on Thursday. Daniil Medvedev takes on defending champion Hubert Hurkacz knowing a win in their quarter-final is enough to take him back to World No. 1, while #NextGenATP sensation Carlos Alcaraz continues his bid to become the youngest man to lift the trophy in Miami when he faces Miomir Kecmanovic.

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[1] Daniil Medvedev vs. [8] Hubert Hurkacz (POL)

Daniil Medvedev shoots for a maiden semi-final in Miami on Thursday with the small matter of a return to World No. 1 also at stake when he steps onto Hard Rock Stadium to face defending champion Hubert Hurkacz.

Medvedev’s third-round defeat to Gael Monfils at Indian Wells saw him slip from top spot below Novak Djokovic in the ATP Rankings. The top seed has looked back to his best in Miami so far, however, dismissing two-time champion Andy Murray, Pedro Martinez and Jenson Brooksby in straight sets to reach the last eight.

“At this moment, I don’t feel any pressure,” said Medvedev when asked about the No. 1 spot after his fourth-round win over Brooksby. “It’s great that I have this chance. Only one match left.

“Of course, maybe during the match, pressure can start to build up, depending how the match is going. I mean, if you have 5-0, 40/0, maybe less pressure. If it’s 6/5 in the tiebreak in the third set, there is a little bit more. But at this moment it’s just a lot of extra motivation to try to make this one more step.”

Hurkacz is the player hoping to take advantage if the situation does affect Medvedev, but the Pole hardly needs extra motivation of his own. The World No. 10 is defending his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title, clinched in a three-set thriller against Jannik Sinner last year, as he hunts a first trophy of 2022.

The eighth seed has already dealt with plenty of power during his opening three matches in Miami, seeing off big-servers Arthur Rinderknech and Lloyd Harris either side of a three-set battle with the free-hitting Aslan Karatsev. Hurkacz now faces a combination of those attributes in Medvedev, whose big first delivery and fierce groundstrokes from deep will put the World No. 10’s title defence to the ultimate test.

The pair has met three times before, all in the 2021 season. Hurkacz claimed victory on the grass at Wimbledon, but Medvedev triumphed on the hard courts at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers in Toronto and the Nitto ATP Finals. With all those matches going to deciding sets, this latest collision between two of the biggest baseline hitters on Tour should prove an intriguing spectacle in Miami.

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[14] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) vs. Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB)

Where to start with Carlos Alcaraz in 2022? The 18-year-old continues to exceed all expectations for a player so new to the Tour, and on Thursday he goes into a first meeting with Miomir Kecmanovic looking to reach a second Masters 1000 semi-final in the space of two weeks.

Alcaraz lost in the first round on debut in Miami in 2021, but this year’s run can hardly be considered a surprise given his recent form. The Spaniard picked up a maiden ATP 500 title in Rio de Janeiro in February, was only stopped by Rafael Nadal in the final four at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, and his 7-5, 6-3 fourth-round win over Stefanos Tsitsipas in south Florida on Tuesday night took him to 15-2 for the season.

The 14th seed may have arrived in Miami with only minimal experience of playing matches in the hot and humid conditions on the US east coast, but Alcaraz has had no issues settling in at Hard Rock Stadium and is thriving in the atmosphere at the Masters 1000 event.

“It was tough, but yeah, fun playing in front of this crazy crowd,” said the reigning Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals champion after his win over Tsitsipas on Grandstand. “It was pretty amazing. [I gave] a lot of energy to come back in the first set. To be able to beat Tsitsipas in front of these fans was incredible, [it] was fun.”

On Thursday he meets an opponent also enjoying a dream 2022 Sunshine Double. Kecmanovic reached the quarter-finals in Indian Wells for the second time two weeks ago and in Miami has taken out a trio of impressive young North American stars in Felix Auger-Aliassime, Sebastian Korda, and Taylor Fritz. The World No. 48 is now into his fourth quarter-final in as many tournaments.

Kecmanovic had never been past the second round in south Florida prior to this year, but now stands just a win away from a maiden Masters 1000 semi-final after avenging his Indian Wells quarter-final loss to Fritz by ousting the American in three sets in the fourth round on Tuesday. The Serb can turn to his coach, David Nalbandian, for advice on how to take the next step – the Argentine former World No. 3 reached the semi-finals in Miami in 2006 – but once he takes to the court on Thursday it will be down to him to find a way to halt the Alcaraz charge.