(Tennis news) Elena Rybakina reached the Miami Open final by defeating world number 3 Jessica Pegula 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 while World Number 1 Carlos Alcaraz by overcoming Taylor Fritz 6-4 6-2 to reach the men’s semi-final. Both players are on track to win the ‘Sunshine Double’, aiming to become the eighth man and fifth woman to win both the Indian Wells and Miami Wells title. Rybakina defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the Indian Wells final and has now won 13 consecutive matches. The Kazakh player will now take on Czech Petra Kvitova or Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in the final on Saturday.

As for Alcaraz, he will now take on Jannik Sinner in the last four on Friday, the two had last faced at the US Open last year in a five-hour epic quarter-final. Alcaraz has a 3-2 record over Sinner and speaking ahead of the match Sinner said “I [am] happy to play against him again because I look forward to these kinds of matches. I feel like he makes me a better player.”

On the other side of the men’s category, Daniil Medvedev who defeated qualifier Christopher Eubanks in the quarter-finals will now take on fellow Russian Karen Khachanov. Khachanov won 6-3 6-2 against Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo. He said “We grew up together. Every time Daniil plays against Andrey [fellow Russian Andrey Rublev], or I play against Andrey or Daniil, it’s never easy because we know each other pretty well and we are good friends outside of the court.”

The 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev has won 22 of the past 23 games and has now reached the semi-finals at a fifth straight ATP event. The Russian won consecutive titles in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai but was defeated by Alcaraz in the Indian Wells final. In the women’s category, Kvitova beat Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4 3-6 6-3 in a rain-delayed quarter-final to reach the Miami semi-finals for the first time.

Also read: Alcaraz reached the quarter-finals of the Miami Open with win over Paul