If he wants to keep his place as world N.1, recovered in the wake of his triumph in California, the 19-year-old Spaniard must remain the master in Florida and thus achieve the "Sunshine Double", a double the same year that Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Pete Sampras, Marcelo Rios, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have achieved before him.

In the women's tournament, Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina, ranked 7th in the world, is also one match away from this feat after having already won in Indian Wells. The 23-year-old, who threw American Jessica Pegula (No. 7) 6-7 (3/6), 4-3 in the semis, is now in the final where she will face either Czech Petra Kvitova or Romanian Sorana Cirstea.

To see how Alcaraz crushes his opponents one by one in this American spring, with ten wins in a row all in two straight sets, the prodigy of Murcia seems for his part untouchable.

Taylor Fritz (10th), whom he was facing for the first time and is not strictly speaking a foil on hard, since he won at Indian Wells last year, was powerless against the Spanish tornado.

Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina after beating American Jessica Pegula in the semifinals of the Miami tournament, March 30, 2023 © MATTHEW STOCKMAN/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Even if some hit the mark, most of his cinder blocks came back like boomerangs. Because Alcaraz excels at nothing so much as to erect a wall that ends up crashing on his opponents, driven by a fighting spirit at all times.

A single direct fault

Not content with chaining runs and crazy defenses, the winner of the last US Open was again formidable precision with only one direct fault committed, converting three of his five break balls, while erasing the two chances that Fritz had.

He will meet on his way one of his best rivals in the person of Jannik Sinner, 21, finalist of the event in 2021, who will try to take revenge after the semifinal lost in Indian Wells. Alcaraz, who leads 3-2 in their confrontations, was also the winner of their Homeric duel, in the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows last year, after 5h15 of struggle.

The other semi-final will be 100% Russian, between Medvedev (5th) and Khachanov (16th), the former leading 3-1 in their head-to-heads.

"We grew up together... Every time Daniil plays Andrey (Rublev) or I play Andrey or Daniil, it's never easy. We know each other very well. In Adelaide at the beginning of the year, he beat me pretty badly. I will try to approach this match differently and we will see how it goes," Khachanov said after qualifying 6-3, 6-2 against Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo (31st).

Spain's Carlos Alcaraz after winning his quarterfinal against American Taylor Fritz at the Masters 1000 in Miami, March 30, 2023 © MATTHEW STOCKMAN/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Medvedev made him speak his realism (6-3, 7-5) to contain the passion of surprise guest Christopher Eubanks (119th), from qualifying. The victory, not so easy to obtain, is the 22nd in 23 matches for the 27-year-old Russian, winner in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai in February.

Kvitova in the semifinals

He was clinical in a first round. This is evidenced by his two break balls converted into as many chances, after erasing the five that the American has obtained.

"It was complicated. I feel like he did better than I did at first. Then, I managed to turn the tide, putting a lot of pressure on him," he said.

Eubanks, however, did not seem affected by this scenario. He was even the most aggressive in the second set, to end up lining up more winning shots than the Russian (37 against 27) and even committing fewer direct faults (10 against 11)! But broken at 4-3, Medvedev made sure to avoid a decisive game that looked like a trap, to close the deal, in 1:29.

American Christopher Eubanks lost to Russia's Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Miami on March 30, 2023 © CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP

On the women's side, Petra Kvitova (12th) reached the semifinals for the first time, defeating Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova (6th) 4-3, 6-6, 3-18 in a lengthy match due to inclement weather.

The 33-year-old Czech, in search of a 9th WTA 1000 title, five years after the last conquered in Madrid, will face the Romanian Sorana Cirstea (74th) who created the surprise Wednesday by taking out the world N.2 Aryna Sabalenka.

© 2023 AFP