By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday March 16, 2024
Daniil Medvedev ousted Tommy Paul in three sets to reach his second consecutive final at Indian Wells.
Photo Source: Getty
Indian Wells – Daniil Medvedev is set to take another crack at Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday’s Indian Wells final.
The Russian battled past Tommy Paul from a set down on Saturday evening, winning 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-2, setting a rematch of last year’s final in the California desert with Alcaraz, who snapped Jannik Sinner’s 19-match winning streak in Saturday’s first semifinal, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.
The matchup marks the first time that the same players have met in back-to-back finals at Indian Wells since Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in the 2014 and 2015 finals.
Medvedev fell 6-3, 6-2 to Alcaraz in last year's final and owns a 2-3 lifetime record against the Spanish star overall.
Medvedev knows he’ll be in for a tough challenge against Alcaraz.
“I think today he showed exactly why I personally think this court suits him perfectly. Little slow bounce from time to time to give him time, and he doesn't care about wind here and that the ball doesn't travel through the air,” he said of Alcaraz.
The conditions in the California desert do appear to favor Alcaraz. And given how well he played today in his victory over Alcaraz, it’s hard to imagine Medvedev putting pressure on the 20-year-old phenom the way he did in the US Open semifinal last September, when he upset the Spaniard in four sets.
But it must be said that Medvedev has performed exceptionally well at Indian Wells in the last two years. He has won 10 out of 11 matches at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, and has been bested only by Alcaraz, who rides an 11-match winning streak into the final.
Alcaraz hopes to complete the first successful title defense at Indian Wells since Novak Djokovic won his last title here, in 2016.
He feels that he has the blueprint for success.
“I know how I have to play against him. I played many times in a final against him last year. So I know pretty well the tactics against him,” he said.