Daniil Medvedev has criticized world number one Carlos Alcaraz for suffering his first defeat of 2026 on his way to the final of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
Medvedev held his nerve to win 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) against Alcaraz, who was not at his best, especially in the second set tie-break.
Earlier, Jannik Sinner wasted little time in his first BNP Paribas Open final in Indian Wells, defeating fourth seed Alexander Zverev 6-2, 6-4 to set up a showdown with Medvedev on Sunday. The women’s final, between Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina, will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Tennis from 5:30pm on a first-come, first-served basis.
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Highlights of the Indian Wells semi-final match between Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev.
Alcaraz, who saved the first set at 2-5 after being broken in the fourth game, sealed the game with a stunning cross-court forehand, putting constant pressure on the former world number one, but Medvedev responded decisively and won 6-3, only to save the first set at 2-5.
The Spaniard turned the screw at the start of the second set, breaking in the second time looking for a 3-1 lead, but quickly relinquished the advantage and Medvedev found a brilliant return to force an error on game point.
Alcaraz narrowed the lead to 5-4, but Medvedev’s serve prevented him from taking two set points, and although he continued to want to take a 6-5 lead, his opponent stormed to victory in the tiebreak.
“When you play with a player like Carlos, you play many times and lose many times,” Medvedev said. “He’s a great player with a great shot, great defense, attack, return, everything, so he has to do his best.”
“I held out as long as I could in the second set,” Medvedev added. “But I’m playing great tennis and I’m very happy to beat a player as strong as him.”
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“Tennis is determined by a few different statistics. Break points were 0/2 for Carlos and 4/5 for Medvedev, so he broke serve more and played better on the big points, especially backing up the second serve. Those break points were set points, and Carlos couldn’t make it.”
Former British number one Tim Henman said: “What I like about Medvedev’s incredible performance is that it emphasizes that it’s not a foregone conclusion. We’ve seen Alcaraz and Sinner dominate, and certainly it’s even more difficult in a best-of-five Grand Slam, but I think Medvedev deserves a lot of credit.”
“He came out and continued to play like he did against Jack Draper. Very aggressive, hit the ball very hard from the back of the court. Very flat, very little room for error, no mistakes.”
World No. 2 Sinner put in a near-perfect performance to earn his sixth straight tour-level win against Zverev in one hour and 23 minutes and book his first championship match appearance in the California desert.
The Italian, who lost to great rival Alcaraz in the 2023 and 2024 Indian Wells semi-finals, took an hour and 23 minutes to see off the German and converted three of the six break points he created to reach the final for the first time with relative ease.
He broke in the fifth and seventh games en route to taking the first set, avoided break points at 2-3, and repeated the feat in the second set, leading 4-3 and ending the match.
“It’s a great accomplishment. It means a lot to me to reach the finals for the first time here,” Sinner said. “It’s my third time playing the semi-finals here so I’m very happy. Now let’s see what happens.”
“Of course it will be a very tough test next time, but I am very satisfied. We improved this week in this tournament and that was the most important part for me.”
“It was a great performance from my side. I felt like Sasha didn’t play very well today. Breaking him a few times in the first set gave me the confidence to continue. Sasha was also very good in important moments. I’m very happy.”
Sinner won 83 percent (24/29) of the points on his first serve, capping off an 83-minute victory.
He has now reached the finals of all six hard court Masters 1000 tournaments.
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“Zverev seemed to give Sinner a break in the first set,” he said. “Sinner didn’t play great tennis to get points.
“He had chances early in the second set. I felt like if Zverev had gotten one of them he could have turned it around, but there was a bit of deja vu because I was waiting for Sinner to take his chances. I felt very comfortable.”
Navratilova said, “Sinner backs up the shot very well and then attacks the return of serve very well. He beat Zverev at the second serve point, and Zverev’s serve was good, but not good enough.”
“Yannik just doesn’t let him breathe. He keeps pushing. His technique is perfect. Coach Darren Cahill has really improved his volleys and transitions to the net.”
Sunday’s final will be the first meeting between Sinner and Medvedev since 2024. Neither player has yet to drop a set in the past two weeks.
Medvedev has now won 18 consecutive sets, a streak that began at the start of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
“If I can maintain my level throughout the tournament, or even improve it, I’ll have a chance,” he said.
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