MIAMI GARDENS, Fla., March 31 (UPI) — Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz beat Daniil Medvedev in straight sets in the Miami Open quarterfinals Thursday in Miami Gardens, Fla., denying the Russian in his attempt to reclaim the world’s top singles ranking.
Hurkacz, the defending champion, beat Medvedev 7-6(7), 6-3 in the two-hour match at Hard Rock Stadium.
“I think the return was crucial,” Hurkacz said in his on-court interview. “I was able to make a lot of returns and get some free points on my serve, because having rallies with Daniil is fun, but they get long.
“It was good I was able to get some free points.”
Medvedev was one win away from earning the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings. He held the top ranking earlier this month, but slipped to No. 2 on March 21, behind Novak Djokovic of Serbia.
The tournament’s top seed did not drop a set through his first three matches at the Miami Open.
Hurkacz totaled five aces, compared to Medvedev’s two in Thursday’s quarterfinal. He also logged two double faults, while Medvedev totaled six. Hurkacz converted 3 of 14 break points. Medvedev converted 1 of 4 break points.
Hurkacz won the first game and broke Medvedev’s first serve. He then pushed ahead 4-1 in the first set. Medvedev stormed back, tied the set at 5-5 and forced a tiebreak, but Hurkacz claimed the final game.
Medvedev and Hurkacz exchanged points through the first four games of the second set.
Hurkacz then broke Medvedev to claim the fifth game. He went ahead 5-3 and broke Medvedev’s serve to claim match point.
Hurkacz will face Carlos Alcaraz Garfia of Spain or Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia on Friday in a men’s singles semifinal.
Casper Ruud of Norway faces Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina in the other men’s singles semifinal Friday at Hard Rock Stadium. The men’s final is at 1 p.m. Sunday on the same court.
Alcarez Garfia and Kecmanovic face off Thursday in the last men’s quarterfinal. The women’s singles final is at 1 p.m. Saturday in Miami Gardens.(function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(d.getElementById(id))return;js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=’https://embed.ex.co/sdk.js’;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}(document,’script’,’exco-sdk’));
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