Medvedev ends Alcaraz’s perfect season to set up Sinner showdown in Indian Wells final
Daniil Medvedev dismantled Carlos Alcaraz without dropping a set to end the world No. 1’s perfect 2026 season, and will now face Jannik Sinner in a final that pits the tour’s two most in-form players against each other on the biggest stage in the California desert.
Daniil Medvedev, Indian Wells 2026 | © Zuma / PsNewz
Daniil Medvedev had been waiting for a moment like this. He picked the right night to deliver it. The Russian, seeded 11th but playing with the conviction of a man who had rediscovered his best tennis, swept past Carlos Alcaraz 6-3, 7-6(3) on Saturday to end the world No. 1’s flawless 16-match start to 2026 and book his place in the BNP Paribas Open final against Jannik Sinner.
It was Alcaraz’s first defeat of the season. He had arrived at Indian Wells having won the Australian Open in January and the ATP 500 title in Doha, carrying with him the kind of momentum that had made him look untouchable. Against Medvedev, on a night when the Russian’s serve was metronomic and his positioning immovable, it was not enough.
Medvedev won the first set in 34 minutes, breaking early and never releasing his grip. Alcaraz, frustrated in the early stages, tried to shift the balance in the second – introducing more drop shots and variation to move the Russian off his preferred deep baseline position.
Set point for Alcaraz
It worked well enough to create a set point at 5-4 on Medvedev’s serve, a genuine moment of danger that Medvedev absorbed without flinching, holding to force a tiebreak. Once there, the Russian was ruthless. He raced to 6-1 and sealed it with an ace at 6-3, completing a performance built on two qualities that have defined his career at its best: clinical efficiency and an almost oppressive consistency.
The statistics underlined the dominance. Medvedev converted both of the break points he created and conceded none of his own, winning 74% of points on his second serve – a figure that prevented Alcaraz from building any rhythm in the return games. The world No. 1 accumulated 30 unforced errors, a count that reflected how rarely he was allowed to play on his terms.
Medvedev rewrites history
Medvedev arrived at Indian Wells in the form of a man reborn. After a difficult 2025 in which he failed to qualify for the ATP Finals for the first time in seven seasons, he had already claimed titles in Brisbane and Dubai this year, and had not dropped a set since a loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas in Rotterdam – 16 consecutive sets won coming into Saturday’s match.
Alcaraz had beaten him in both Indian Wells finals in 2023 and 2024, winning 6-3, 6-2 and 7-6, 6-1 respectively. The Russian had history to rewrite. He did it cleanly.
In Sunday’s final, Medvedev faces Sinner, who dismantled Alexander Zverev 6-2, 6-4 in the first semifinal. It is the kind of match that the tournament has been building toward all fortnight – two men, neither of whom has dropped a set in California, meeting for a title that each of them still needs to complete their hard-court collection.
