MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — It was halfway by way of the second set and Daniil Medvedev was standing a number of toes behind the baseline, hand propped on certainly one of his knees, his sweat turning his dark-blue shirt a number of shades darker as he tried to catch his breath.
Hubert Hurkacz, on the opposite aspect at that second, regarded like he was having a day on the seaside.
Had Medvedev prevailed Thursday within the quarterfinal match, the Russian would have overtaken Novak Djokovic on Monday and returned to No. 1 on this planet rankings. Nevertheless, Hurkacz, seeded eighth, moved two wins away from defending his Miami Open title by sporting down the top-seeded Medvedev 7-6 (7), 6-3.
“I was returning pretty well, I was putting some pressure on his serves and that was helping my game,” Hurkacz mentioned. “I was able to get some free points on my serve and that was pretty big.”
Hurkacz, who’s from Poland, will subsequent meet both No. 14 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain or unseeded Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia within the semifinals.
The opposite semifinal pits sixth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway towards unseeded Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.
Hurkacz has performed Medvedev 4 occasions, and Medvedev has been ranked No. 2 on this planet in every of these conferences — which they’ve now break up. Hurkacz improved to 14-5 this 12 months, and his report in Miami is 12-1 all-time.
“Coming here is so much fun,” Hurkacz mentioned.
The ladies’s semifinals had been additionally Thursday, with unseeded Naomi Osaka dealing with No. 22 seed Belinda Bencic and No. 16 Jessica Pegula taking over No. 2 Iga Swiatek, who will exchange the now-retired Ashleigh Barty as No. 1 on this planet Monday.
