Medvedev is the 2023 Miami Open Champion, Wins 4th Title This Season

World No. 5 earns his fifth Masters-1000 tournament and 19^th career trophy

by Daniel Perisse

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Miami Gardens, FL (April 2, 2023) – Daniil Medvedev is back on top: the World No. 5 has won his fourth title in five finals played this season after clinching his first Miami Open presented by Itaú title by prevailing over Italian Jannik Sinner, 7-5, 6-3, in 1 hour and 34 minutes.

“Really happy. It’s the best start of the season I have ever had. Amazing amount of points won. For sure a pity there was no Grand Slam at this period of time, but yeah, generally super happy and looking forward to the season even more,” said the 2023 Miami Open champion.

This was Medvedev’s eighth ATP Masters 1000 final and the first title at this level since he won Toronto in 2021, against Reilly Opelka. He is the eighth player to win five different Masters-1000 tournaments. The World No. 5 has reached the 19th tour-level title at an unprecedented 19th different event.

So far this season, he claimed the trophy in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai before reaching the Indian Wells final in his previous event before Miami, which he lost to Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. With the fourth championship today, he now leads the ATP in terms of title wins this season.

After a series of initial holds in the first set, Sinner was the first to break serve, opening a 3-2 lead. However, Medvedev answered immediately and leveled 3-3.

The World No. 5 was able to clinch the first set in the 12th game, when he got the best of the Italian again to win 7-5 in exactly one hour.

In the beginning of the second set, Sinner lost intensity – he saw the doctor on the court – in the end. From now on, his intensity was not the same, and Medvedev was the steadier of the two, making the Italian move more.

“Unfortunately, today was not my day. But still, I don’t want to take anything away from Daniil. He was serving incredibly. He was very brave with the way he played today. He is one of the best players in the world,” commented the Italian.

In the fourth game, the World No. 5 was able to break the World No. 11 and took the lead 3-1. It was just a matter of holding serve until Medvedev ended the set 6-3 and claimed the trophy.

In addition to that, the 27-year-old is 29-3 on the season, having won 24 out of his past 25 matches and currently leads the tour in terms of victories in the season. He also became one of the players to reach the final in all six Masters 1000 and Grand Slams on hard courts.

“Generally, I love hard courts. I love playing on it. Yeah, if it were my choice, it would be only hard courts, but I completely understand that that’s not fair, we can say like this. So, yeah, I feel the best at my game on hard courts. Even if I know that I can play well enough on the grass and clay, on hard courts I feel the most fluid. On hard courts I can play not my best tennis but still win the matches. That’s a big difference.”

Medvedev now has a 6-0 record in matches against Sinner – today they played their second final of the season: earlier in Rotterdam, the World No. 5 overcame the Italian 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

“Obviously disappointed about today. I woke up not in the best possible way. I felt a little bit sick, but we tried, you know, to go out on the court, trying to give it a shot, give it a try,” explained the World No. 11.

However, Medvedev praised the Italian’s game and feels he is constantly improving.

“I feel like already this year he’s stepping up, stepping up, so he starts to miss less and less. The match in Rotterdam was a brutal one. I mean, today the first set he had the first break. He’s getting definitely closer and closer, but I hope I can continue bringing him this trouble because I’m sure I’m going to see him in the later stages of the tournament if I manage to play well,” affirmed the World No. 5.

Sinner was returning to a Masters-1000 final since losing to Hubert Hurkacz here in 2021. He was bidding to become the 2nd Italian with an ATP Masters 1000 title since the category was introduced in 1990 – the first was Fabio Fognini, in April 2019.

Next for Medvedev now is a series of tournaments on clay, a surface on which he already confessed to being as not as comfortable. Will there be more finals, or have we seen enough of the World No. 5 this season?

“I know that I can play well on clay. I beat Tsitsipas and Novak at the same tournament once, that’s a pretty good achievement on clay. On hard courts like here I feel, like, many of the matches I didn’t play my best tennis, but I managed to win them and the tournament. Clay court is tougher for me. If I don’t play my best tennis, I can lose much easier. So yeah, hopefully I can be at my best on clay court season.”