Daniil Medvedev brought an end to world number one Carlos Alcaraz’s perfect start to 2026 to reach the final at Indian Wells.
Alcaraz began the year by winning the Australian Open and was on a 16-match winning streak until running into Medvedev.
The Russian made a quick start, taking the opening set in 35 minutes, en route to a 6-3 7-6 (7-3) victory in California.
The 30-year-old, who has finished runner-up at the California event on two occasions, will face Jannik Sinner after the world number two caught the eye with a 6-2 6-4 win over Alexander Zverev earlier in the day.
“It’s an amazing feeling to beat someone like Carlos – the number one in the world,” said Medvedev.
“In a way, when you play him or Jannik [Sinner] or Novak [Djokovic] it doesn’t matter the ranking.
“It’s just a great feeling to play them, and to beat them, of course, is even better.”
Medvedev took both break-point opportunities in the first set, before battling to victory via a tie-break in the second.
The 2021 US Open champion, who beat defending champion Jack Draper in the quarter-finals, extended his own winning streak to nine matches after taking last month’s Dubai Tennis Championship title.
“I just have to give credit to Daniil,” said Alcaraz.
“I think he just played an amazing match. Since the start of the match until the end of the match, he was playing unreal, I got to say. I have never seen, to be honest, playing Daniil like this.”
Sinner looking to join elite club
Sinner has won 21 of his 24 titles on hard courts and looked on top form as he raced to victory against Zverev in one hour and 23 minutes.
The 24-year-old is aiming to become just the third man – after Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic – to capture all six ATP Masters 1,000 hard-court titles.
“It was a great performance – very solid from the back of the court. I tried to go for shots and that felt like one of the keys,” Sinner said.
“He has a huge serve so I tried to mix it up. From my side I was very precise and it was a solid performance.“I thought the match would be more physical but when both serve well it’s difficult to get into a rhythm with short points.”
(BBCSport)