Semifinals in both men’s singles and women’s doubles will be played on Friday.
The men’s singles semifinals feature three of the top four seeds, but they do not include top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz, who was upset by Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday evening. Dimitrov will face Sascha Zverev on Friday for a spot in Sunday’s championship match.
The other men’s semi is a rematch of the epic Australian Open final, as well as a rematch from last year’s Miami final, between Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev.
And in the women’s doubles semifinals, it will be four Americans, two Italians, and a Canadian teaming with a Kiwi.
Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule. Friday’s play gets underway at 1:00pm local time.
Daniil Medvedev (3) vs. Jannik Sinner (2) – Not Before 3:00pm on Stadium Court
In the championship match of January’s Australian Open, an exhausted Medvedev, who had already played three five-setters, started out unusually aggressive. It caught Sinner off-guard, and won Daniil the first two sets. But Jannik showed an extreme amount of composure for someone down two sets in his first Major final, and rather comfortably claimed the next three, as well as the biggest title of his career.
Overall Medvedev leads their head-to-head 6-4, with all 10 meetings on hard courts. However, you can divide their history into two parts. Medvedev won the first six matches, with the most recent coming in the final of Miami a year ago. Since then, Sinner has taken the last four, which all took place between this past October and January.
In the absence of Djokovic, and with Alcaraz only winning one title since last July, these two are definitively the best two hard court players the ATP has to offer. Since last summer, Sinner has reached six hard court finals, while Medvedev has reached five. Yet notably, their results in those finals tell contrasting stories. Jannik has gone 5-1, while Daniil has gone 0-5.
Sinner has been the ATP’s best big match player across the past six months. And on Friday, he should be favored to earn his fifth consecutive victory over Medvedev.
Grigor Dimitrov (11) vs. Sascha Zverev (4) – Not Before 7:00pm on Stadium Court
Grigor Dimitrov just may be playing the best tennis of his career. He simply outhit and outshined Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday night, mixing highlight-reel winners with a mature and composed demeanor. Grigor has only been broken twice through four matches in Miami, and is into his third Masters 1000 semifinal out of the last four. With a victory on Friday, the 32-year-old would return to the top 10 for the first time since 2018.
2018 was also the last time Zverev reached the final of this tournament. But he’s just one win away from a repeat appearance, and has won all eight sets he’s played this fortnight. Sascha has only been broken once to this stage, to reach just his second Masters 1000 semifinal since an ankle injury cut his 2022 season short in June of that year.
This rivalry has been nearly completely one-sided. Dimitrov won their first matchup, a full decade ago when Zverev was still ranked outside the top 100. But ever since, it’s been all Sacha, as he’s won the last seven. The German will also be the much fresher player on Friday, as he’s spent considerably less time on court. And as high as Grigor’s level has been, he remains just 2-8 in Masters 1000 semifinals. I give the edge to Zverev to advance.
Other Notable Matches on Friday:
Asia Muhammad and Alycia Parks vs. Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe (2) – Muhammad and Parks are infrequent partners, yet have survived three deciding-set tiebreaks to reach this stage. Dabrowski and Routliffe are the reigning US Open champions.
Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands (ALT) vs. Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini (OSE) – Kenin and Mattek-Sands already won a title this season (Abu Dhabi), as have Errani and Paolini, who were victorious in Linz.
Friday’s full Order of Play is here.
