Daniil Medvedev will play in his first ATP Masters 1000 final since 2021 after he defeated Frances Tiafoe at the 2023 Indian Wells.
Despite playing the final in Melbourne last year, and semifinals in Cincinnati, Medvedev is yet to make a final appearance at an ATP 1000 event since the 2021 Paris Masters. Back then, he lost to Novak Djokovic in three sets and he'll have a chance to win his first Masters title since triumphing in Toronto in the same year.
In his fourth-round match against Alexander Zverev, the Russian suffered an ankle injury, but he's still battling on the courts in the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, and in the semifinals, he took on Frances Tiafoe, who had a motivation of possibly reaching his new career-high.
It was expected that both players will show their serving qualities and firing power in the match and that's what happened in the first set. Tiafoe was as active as his opponent, but Medvedev had many more chances to break.
In the fifth game, the former world no. 1 led 40-0, but Tiafoe pulled off a string of five points to save all three break points. However, in the eleventh game, Medvedev had yet another break point, and this time he used it and after holding his serve, he won the first set 7-5.
Tiafoe was broken right at the start of the second set and Medvedev led 2-0. The Russian had a chance to increase his lead to two breaks, but supported by the home crowd, Tiafoe just refused to give up.
Moreover, the American had one chance to break his opponent in the sixth game of the second set, which was the longest in the match. But he couldn't use his chance and it was impossible for him to stop Medvedev then.
Medvedev had three match points on his opponent's serve, but couldn't use those and he also couldn't serve out the match as the American broke back to stay in it. But in the next game, Medvedev stole his opponent's serve one more time.
But again, Tiafoe saved four more match points to force his opponent into a tie-break. This time, Medvedev didn't allow his opponent to cause any drama and dominated the tie-break to beat Tiafoe 7-5, 7-6(4), and reach the 2023 Indian Wells final.
In the final, he will take on the 11th-seeded Jannik Sinner or the first-seeded Carlos Alcaraz, who is fighting for the world no. 1 spot at Indian Wells.
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