Miami Masters: Sinner fires past Ruusuvuori into semis, Alcaraz or Fritz will be next

Jannik Sinner won against Emil Ruusuvuori 6-3, 6-1 on Wednesday evening. He’ll play the winner of the match between Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed, and American Taylor Fritz, the No 9 seed, in the next round

Jannik Sinner Miami Open 2023 | AI / Reuters / Panoramic Jannik Sinner Miami Open 2023 | AI / Reuters / Panoramic
Miami Open presented by Itau •Quarter-final • completed
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Jannik Sinner continues to be masterful in Miami. The 21-year-old Italian made light work of Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori, 6-3, 6-1, on Wednesday at the Miami Open, booking his spot in the last four at Miami for the second time.

The 11th-ranked Italian, a runner-up at Miami in 2021, will face the winner of Wednesday night’s encounter between world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz and top-ranked American Taylor Fritz in the semi-finals.

Sinner improves to 12-2 lifetime at the Miami Open and 5-0 lifetime against the Finn. More impressively, Sinner has dropped just 23 games en route to the semi-finals (through four rounds) the lowest number since Rafael Nadal dropped 21 on his way to the semi-finals in 2014.

“I think we both played very well,” Sinner said. “It’s just the important points I won today.”

Rain interrupted, but did not slow, Sinner

The match was suspended for approximately two hours with Sinner leading 6-3, 2-0, and when the players returned Sinner picked up right where he left off, winning four of the final games to close out his victory in one hour and 15 minutes.

“I came back, I felt good on court,” Sinner said. “The conditions were a little bit different because it was more humid and the ball was a little bit heavier, but still I am very happy about my level today.”

Sinner was dominant on serve throughout the contest, saving the only break point he faced and winning 21 of 22 first-serve points. He lost just nine points on serve in total, despite making only 52 percent of his first serves.

The return was working as well as Sinner converted four breaks of serve against the world No 54.

It wasn’t the best day for Ruusuvuori, but the 23-year-old will click up to a career-high ranking next week – he’s at 37 in the live rankings after reaching his first Masters 1000 quarter-final.

The 21-year-old Italian beat Serb Laslo Djere (6-4, 6-2), Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 21 seed (6-3, 6-4) and Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 6 seed (6-2, 6-4) in the previous rounds of the Miami Open.

Earlier in the tournament, Ruusuvuori, ranked No 54, defeated Portuguese qualifier Nuno Borges (6-1, 6-4), Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, the No 22 seed (6-4, 7-6 (5)), Japanese wildcard Taro Daniel (6-3, 7-6 (3)) and Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, the No 26 seed (4-6, 6-4, 7-5).

Miami Masters, other last eight results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 8.800.000, most recent results first):

  • Carlos Alcaraz vs. Taylor Fritz
  • Francisco Cerundolo vs. Karen Khachanov
  • Christopher Eubanks vs. Daniil Medvedev

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