No happy ending: Jannik Sinner's big title has to wait

What Jannik Sinner has done so far at the Masters 1000 tournament in Miami has been really great. He swept the Russian Andrey Rublev off the field with one of the best games of his career, and in the semifinals he eliminated his eternal rival and world number one Carlos Alcaraz in a highly spectacular match. But the Sesto native is denied a happy ending: In the final, the 21-year-old had to admit defeat to the Russian Daniil Medvedev 5:7, 3:6.

Medvedev of all people! The fifth place in the world rankings is and remains a red flag for Sinner: In the sixth meeting, the Puster native suffered his sixth defeat and his second final defeat within a few weeks. The two exceptional talents met in Rotterdam in mid-February, and Medvedev still had the upper hand. The 27-year-old from Moscow has now won four of his last five tournaments and reached the final of another - that's impressive.

Physically not in top shape It's a shame for Sinner because, in contrast to previous encounters, the chance of beating Medvedev would definitely have been there on Sunday. The Russian appeared vulnerable, especially in the first set, and made an unusually large number of errors, including four double faults. But Sinner didn't know how to take advantage of these opportunities - also because he wasn't having his best day physically. Towards the middle of the first set, the young star had to have the doctor brought to the field, who apparently gave him a stimulant. Did the Pusterer have to contend with the extreme heat (it was 28 degrees Celsius in Miami)? Could definitely be.

Daniil Medvedev won the title. © APA / MATTHEW STOCKMAN

So the 21-year-old wasn't in the best shape. The match started hopefully. After a true marathon game, Sinner got the first break of the day in his fifth attempt to make it 3-2. However, Medvedev immediately countered to make it 3-3. The game continued with both stars' confident serve play until Sinner conceded another break at 5:6 and had to give up the set.

In the second period, Medvedev reduced his error rate and played stronger from point to point, while Sinner had increasing difficulties. He immediately gave the serve to make it 1:2. He promptly got the break back afterwards, but that was only a glimmer of hope because Medvedev countered again with a break to make it 3-1. After that, Sinner fought on bravely, but there was no chance of catching up against the strong Medvedev. After 1.53 hours the Russian converted his match point.

World number 9 Bitter for the young South Tyrolean star: In Miami he missed out on the really big Masters 1000 coup for the second time. In 2021 he was also in the final against Hubert Hurkacz, but had to admit defeat. Nevertheless, Sinner's performance in Miami this year was memorable and also has an impact on the ranking: next week the South Tyrolean will be number 9 in the world. This equals his best ranking!

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No happy ending: Jannik Sinner's big title has to wait

Jannik Sinner fought for the biggest triumph of his career on Sunday evening (CEST) in Miami. But once again Daniil Medvedev became a spoilsport - just like his own body.

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