Medvedev and Sakkari in the last four

But who will be able to stop Daniil Medvedev? On February 14, Daniil Medvedev started his Rotterdam tournament with a victory over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. More than a month later, the Russian has still not lost a match, and Thursday against this same Spaniard, he signed an 18th victory in a row! Winner of the Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai tournaments, the former world No. 1 will also play the semi-finals in Indian Wells, after his 6-3, 7-5 success in 1h43. Pushed to his limits by Alexander Zverev in the previous round, Daniil Medvedev made it shorter this time, notably saving the six break points that his opponent got, all in the second set. In the first, a 1-0 break was enough for the Russian to make the difference, since he then only lost three points on his face-off. But it was a little trickier in the second set, where he committed six double faults. Medvedev saved break points on every service game until 4-4, then he finished very strong, winning twelve of the last fourteen points of the match, with the key a white break at 5-5 to take the wide. The one who will certainly be world No. 5 next Monday will face Frances Tiafoe for a place in the final, whom he has already beaten four out of five times (always on hard).

Sakkari got away with it

In the women’s draw, the semi-final at the bottom of the draw will pit Aryna Sabalenka against Maria Sakkari. Finalist last year, the Greek joined the Belarusian in the last four by eliminating Petra Kvitova. In a remake of last year’s round of 16, the world No. 7 won 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in 2:16, well helped by the twelve double-faults of her opponent. Kvitova started the match perfectly by leading 5-2, which allowed her to pocket the first set without shaking too much. On her way, she led 3-1 in the second and thought maybe she had done the hard part. But Sakkari ended up waking up and equalizing at 3-3, before making the decisive break at 6-5. It was too much for the Czech, who completely broke down in the third set, conceding her serve at 2-1 and 4-1. It is therefore a new semi-final in California for Maria Sakkari, who is led 4-3 in her confrontations with Sabalenka.