Sinner downs Alcaraz

MIAMI – Italy’s Jannik Sinner turned on the style to end Carlos Alcaraz’s hopes of the ‘Sunshine Double’ and his reign as world No 1, triumphing 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2 in their Miami Open semifinal on Friday.

Sinner will meet Russian Daniil Medvedev in today’s final while Alcaraz will lose his No 1 ranking to Novak Djokovic.

Medvedev reached his fifth straight ATP Tour final with a 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-3 win over fellow Russian Karen Khachanov.

The disappointment for the 19-yearold Alcaraz, the defending champion in Miami and coming off a title at Indian Wells, will be tinged with frustration after he struggled in the third set with leg cramps.

It had been an enthralling and entertaining power-hitting performance from both men in the first set, with an incredible 25-shot exchange in the seventh game, bring the crowd to their feet.

HIGH QUALITY SET

The intense, high quality set was eventually won by the Spaniard after a tie-break, but an inspired Sinner fought back in the second.

Sinner broke in the first game and although Alcaraz broke back to make it 2-2, the 21-year-old Italian sensed his moment was arriving and showed confidence in his powerful groundstrokes.

The world No 1 was moving with difficulty and was broken on his first serve in the deciding set. Looking in discomfort, he crouched down on his baseline in between points and shot some worried and confused looks to his team in the stands.

Sinner chose some more conservative strokes and although Alcaraz appeared to recover a little, the Italian ran out the winner in three hours.

Alcaraz said his problems had appeared during a bathroom break after the second set.

“I went to bathroom for five minutes and yeah, everything went down for me a little bit. I stopped myself. I started cramping a little bit. You know, after a really tough match it’s, well, it is tough to stop the match for five minutes,” he said.

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