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MIAMI, Florida — Russian Daniil Medvedev claimed his fourth ATP title of the year with an emphatic victory over Italy’s Jannik Sinner in the final of the Miami Open on Sunday.

Sinner had upset World No. 1 and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in Friday’s semifinal, but the 21-year-old struggled in the heat against the fourth seed Medvedev, who triumphed 7-5, 6-3.

The win was Medvedev’s 19th career ATP title and his fifth in a Masters 1000 event and confirmed his dominance on hard courts in 2023.

Sinner, also beaten in the Miami final two years ago and now with a 0-6 record against the Russian, said he had not been at 100 per cent.

“We woke up this morning not at my best, I felt a little bit sick... unfortunately today I couldn’t play at my best,” said the Italian who, however said there had been no question of him pulling out of the contest.

“No, it was not that bad. But, you know, with the heat, when you run a lot, it gets a little bit worse and worse. Obviously the first half an hour we played in the sun also,” he said.

Medvedev, who had already won three titles in three weeks at Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai before losing to Alcaraz in the Indian Wells final, started confidently, holding serve to love while Sinner’s first service game was a real battle.

Sinner had to save a break point and fought through a 26-shot rally before coming through at the end of a 10-minute game.

In contrast, Medvedev again served to love but Sinner was showing signs of settling as he held his serve and then the Italian broke Medvedev to go 3-2 up, with a deft touch volley.

Medvedev immediately broke back, however, with Sinner’s effort clipping the net and going out and after the Russian held again, the Italian had attention from the ATP trainer.

Sinner, looking uncomfortable in the bright sunshine, took a pill along with a powder in his water in the 30.5 degrees Celsius heat.

Medvedev, looking composed and confident, grabbed the first set when Sinner was serving at 6-5 down and the Italian’s poor shot into the net handed the Russian the crucial break.

Medvedev quickly got ahead in the second set when Sinner sent a forehand long but just as quickly handed the break back to Sinner.

But Sinner was making too many errors and when Medvedev broke again to go 3-1 up, the Italian was unable to turn things around and the World No. 5 completed his first ever win in Miami.

“I’m really happy. Today was a tough match. It was probably the hottest day and the most humid during the day,” Medvedev said.

“It was not easy conditions. I don’t know if Jannik had a small injury or cramp. I was also struggling, tried not to show it,” he added.

Medvedev’s 19 ATP Tour wins have come at 19 different events, but he had not won a Masters 1000 event since Toronto in 2021.

“I haven’t won’t such a big title in probably a year and a half. At the end I was quite shaky,” he said.

“Not even tight, because I’m not scared to win. But still the hands get a little shaky so the serve is a little bit tougher... I managed to get myself together and close the match.”

The 27-year-old has now won five of the six hard-court ATP Masters 1000s and has also reached the final at both hard-court Grand Slams, winning the 2021 US Open.

Now he must turn his attention to the clay courts where he has had much less success.

“I love hard courts, If it would be my choice there would be only hard courts,” he joked.

MELBOURNE — Max Verstappen held off a revived Lewis Hamilton to steer his Red Bull to a chaotic win at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday and tighten his grip on the world championship.

The world champion began from pole and despite being passed by Mercedes pair George Russell and Hamilton at the start, he kept his cool to win a race red flagged three times, with multiple crashes.

Hamilton came home second ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who made it three podiums from three this year.

“We had a very poor start, lap one I was careful as I had a lot to lose,” said Dutchman Verstappen, who won the season-opening race in Bahrain and came second in Jeddah a fortnight ago.

“After that, the pace of the car was quick. With these red flags, I don’t know, I don’t really understand. It was a bit of a mess but we had good pace and we won, so that’s important.

It was a disastrous day for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, last year’s winner, who spun out on the first lap, while Russell’s car caught fire on lap 19 and his race too was over.

Victory was Verstappen’s maiden win in Melbourne and Red Bull’s first in Australia since Sebastian Vettel’s 2011 triumph.

His teammate and winner in Saudi Arabia Sergio Perez sliced through the field to come fifth after qualifying last due to brake issues, behind Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin. 

Late drama

The Red Bull triumph came despite unbelievable late drama that saw a red flag come out when Verstappen had a comfortable lead from Hamilton and Alonso with two laps left, meaning they had a bunched restart for an all-out attack to the finish.

But it descended into chaos when Alonso was clipped by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz as they jostled for position and sent into a spin, which caused a flow on effect with multiple other cars coming to grief.

Sainz was given a five-second penalty, eventually finishing 12th, and the race stopped again.

It resumed after a lengthy delay for single lap behind a safety car — with no overtaking allowed — in the order of the previous start with only 12 cars left.

“I didn’t expect to be second so I’m super grateful for it,” said seven-time world champion Hamilton.

“I’m driving as best I can and working as hard as I can but still, considering we’ve been down on performance and in straight pace, for us to be up there fighting with Aston is amazing.”

On a fine day, Lando Norris in a McLaren was sixth, Niko Hulkenberg in the Haas seventh and rookie Oscar Piastri, in the other McLaren, an encouraging eighth on his home circuit.

‘Rollercoaster 

of emotions’

Alpha Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu came ninth and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda 10th.

“We had a rollercoaster of emotions today, many things going on at the beginning, and the last half an hour,” said Spanish veteran Alonso.

“Mercedes were very fast and Lewis did an incredible job — I could not match the pace, but we’ll take P3.”

With Red Bull’s undeniable speed advantage, it was crucial for Russell and Hamilton to get a strong start.

And they did just that with both scorching past a tentative Verstappen on the first corner before Leclerc spun at Turn 3 and the safety car came out.

They resumed with Hamilton pressing Russell before the safety car was deployed again on lap seven when Williams’ Alexander Albon lost control, leaving gravel on the track, with a red flag eventually needed.

They got underway again from a standing start with Hamilton initially keeping Verstappen at bay.

But it only a matter of time before the Dutchman made his move and he surged into the lead on lap 12.

Once more a safety car was needed when Russell’s car broke down, but Verstappen was in charge now and pulling clear.

By the halfway mark, he was seven seconds ahead with the battle seemingly all about who came second between Hamilton and Alonso.

But there was more drama when Kevin Magnussen lost the rear tyre of his Haas and the red flag came out again at the death.

MIAMI, Florida — Italy’s Jannik Sinner turned on the style to end Carlos Alcaraz’s hopes of the “Sunshine Double” and his reign as World No. 1, triumphing 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2 in their Miami Open semifinal on Friday.

Sinner will meet Russian Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s final while Alcaraz will lose his No. 1 ranking to Novak Djokovic.

Medvedev reached his fifth straight ATP Tour final with a 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-3 win over fellow Russian Karen Khachanov.

The disappointment for the 19-year-old Alcaraz, the defending champion in Miami and coming off a title at Indian Wells, will be tinged with frustration after he struggled in the third set with leg cramps.

It had been an enthralling and entertaining power-hitting performance from both men in the first set, with an incredible 25-shot exchange in the seventh game, bring the crowd to their feet.

The intense, high quality set was eventually won by the Spaniard after a tie-break, but an inspired Sinner fought back in the second.

Sinner broke in the first game and although Alcaraz broke back to make it 2-2, the 21-year-old Italian sensed his moment was arriving and showed confidence in his powerful groundstrokes.

Worried and confused

The World No. 1 was moving with difficulty and was broken on his first serve in the deciding set. Looking in discomfort, he crouched down on his baseline in between points and shot some worried and confused looks to his team in the stands.

Sinner chose some more conservative strokes and although Alcaraz appeared to recover a little, the Italian ran out the winner in three hours. 

Alcaraz said his problems had appeared during a bathroom break after the second set.

“I went to bathroom for five minutes and yeah, everything went down for me a little bit. I stopped myself. I started cramping a little bit. You know, after a really tough match it’s, well, it is tough to stop the match for five minutes,” he said.

“I started cramping at the beginning of the third set, but it wasn’t the reason for I lost the match. I came back...I started to feel better but of course Jannik, he was better than me in the third set. That’s the truth,” he said.

Sinner had lost to Alcaraz in straight sets in their meeting at the same stage in Indian Wells and he said he could feel just how high the quality of their encounter at Hard Rock Stadium had been.

“When both players play tennis like this it is very nice to play, you can feel it with the crowds. There was just a great energy with everything. It is just nice to be part of matches like this,” he said.

Sinner also said that he had suffered some cramping during the second set but recovered quickly.

“I knew that I had to go on and wait for the right moment,” he said. “I feel ready to compete and I am happy to be in the final,” he added.

The 27-year-old Medvedev, playing against his boyhood friend, survived a second-set comeback but his trademark precision stroke play saw him through against the big-serving Khachanov in a high quality encounter.

The contest saw a series of long rallies as Medvedev fended off Khachanov’s thumping shots from the baseline and then pinned his opponent back on his service game.

Medvedev hit 13 aces and saved four of six break points as the match turned decisively in his favour when he broke Khachanov in the fourth game of the third set.

Medvedev won 82 per cent (14 of 17) of his first-serve points in the final set and was relieved to have beaten a player who knows his game so well.

“In my opinion, it was a top match,” Medvedev said. “In the first set when we lost our serves, it was just a good game from the returner. 

“In the second set, I had one bad game and he won the set. I had one break point, I could have done better. He had a break point in the first game of the third set, I managed to play well. He had one bad game in the third set, I managed to take it and I am really happy to be through. It was a very tough match”.

MELBOURNE — Two-time world champion Max Verstappen is banking on Red Bull ironing out its reliability issues as he targets a second Formula One win of the season at Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix — a race he failed to finish last year.

The Dutchman drove superbly in an action-packed Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia a fortnight ago, slicing through the field to finish second behind teammate Sergio Perez.

But after dominating the early practice in a super-fast car, Verstappen was fuming when a driveshaft issue in qualifying forced him to start from 15th.

Conscious that an engine fire ruined his Melbourne race last year, the 25-year-old is desperate for a trouble-free weekend.

“I recovered to second which is good, and in general the whole feeling in the team, everyone is happy, but personally I’m not happy, because I’m not here to be second,” he said ahead of the third Grand Prix of the season at Albert Park.

“It’s not only about the pace of the car, we need to make sure we are reliable without any issues.

“When you’re fighting for a championship and especially, you know, when it looks like it’s just between two cars, we have to make sure that also the two cars are reliable.”

Perez reeled off a masterful triumph in Saudi Arabia to hold off his charging teammate and convert pole position to his first win of the season and fifth overall.

Team boss Christian Horner called it his best-ever drive, and the Mexican intends to keep the pressure on Verstappen in Australia.

“I don’t know if it’s my best weekend so far with the team, but I’m sure Melbourne will be even better,” he said. “At the moment, I am feeling very comfortable with the car.”

With Red Bull already dominant, finishing 1-2 in both Grand Prix this year, they could benefit further by the introduction of a fourth drag reduction system zone in Melbourne — already one of the fastest tracks on the calendar.

DRS allows drivers to open a flap mounted on the rear wing to increase top speed and aid overtaking manoeuvres, and Red Bull’s scintillating straight-line power will potentially mean new lap records.

Need help

The real battle Sunday is likely to be among the best of the rest, with veteran Fernando Alonso in prime position in his vastly improved Aston Martin.

The 41-year-old Spaniard, who won in Australia 17 years ago when piloting a Renault, finished third in Jeddah to clock the 100th podium of his career — only the sixth driver to achieve the feat.

Starting second, he led briefly before the Red Bulls kicked in, and he knows a mistake is needed from Verstappen or Perez to win his first Formula One race in a decade.

“We need some help from them, but it will happen eventually when they cannot finish always first and second,” said the two-time world champion, who believes his car was better in Jeddah than the season-opening race at Bahrain.

A flawless Charles Leclerc led all the way for a commanding win in Australia last year, but it has been a sobering start to the year for Ferrari as they struggle with power and reliability issues.

Leclerc managed only seventh in Jeddah, leaving the team with their work cut out.

But Mercedes — who won eight successive constructors’ titles before Red Bull claimed their crown last year — took positives from the last race, where George Russell came fourth and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton fifth.

“I think we saw some performance gains to Bahrain, which is encouraging,” said team chief Toto Wolff. “It shows us that the development trajectory is going in the right direction.”

Nearly 420,000 spectators poured into Albert Park last year — a record — and organisers expect even more this weekend at one of the sport’s most popular venues.

Many will be cheering on Oscar Piastri in his debut home Grand Prix as the McLaren driver works to better his 15th in Saudi Arabia. He failed to finish in Bahrain.

MIAMI, Florida — World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz charged into the quarterfinals of the ATP Miami Open with a convincing 6-4, 6-4 victory over Tommy Paul on Tuesday but second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was knocked out by Russian Karen Khachanov.

Alcaraz, the defending Miami champion and also the winner at Indian Wells earlier this month, will face another American in the last eight when he comes up against Taylor Fritz.

Paul came into the match having won his last 12 encounters with Spanish players, including wins over Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal last year, but he was unable to get a foothold in the contest.

It was the ninth straight victory for the 19-year-old Spaniard, who delighted a supportive South Florida crowd with his powerful strokes from the baseline and readiness to move forward, once again making use of his increasingly effective drop shot.

“I moved well and defended well and I counter-attacked and I think if I play at that same level I will have a lot of chances to get through,” said Alcaraz.

“I feel at home here. It is easy to play here in Miami with all the energy I receive every day.”

Tsitsipas had to wait a week for his first contest in Miami, beating Chilean Cristian Garin on Monday, but he came unstuck against Khachanov, losing 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.

The Greek has been troubled by a shoulder injury in recent weeks but Khachanov ended his six match losing streak against Tsitsipas and 23 match barren spell against top ten opponents.

His serve was reliable throughout and broke Tsitsipas’ serve to love in the fifth game of the second set and kept his cool to see out the win.

“Both of us were serving pretty well in the first set... Then I took it to the tie-break, and in the second set as soon as the opportunity came, I had to take it,” he said.

In a clash of top-10 players, American Fritz defeated Denmark’s Holger Rune 6-3, 6-4 to reach to the last eight in Miami for the first time in his career.

Fritz, who won at Delray Beach last month, beat Emilio Nava and Denis Shapovalov in straight sets before Tuesday’s encounter and he was pleased with the way he was able to go on the attack.

“I couldn’t play aggressively in my first two matches because my opponents were hitting every ball as hard as they could. [Rune] still crushes the ball but it was nice to feel I had some more time,” Fritz said. 

“The first two rounds, it was impossible to play my game, I just had to make balls. Today when I got the chance to be aggressive I was and I just wanted to serve well and try not to give him many free points.”

Eubanks ousts Mannarino

Fritz will be joined in the quarterfinals by compatriot Christopher Eubanks who claimed another scalp by beating France’s Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/5).

The game was delayed by rain for around four hours with Eubanks, ranked 119th in the world, 4-2 up in the first set and after play resumed Mannarino was able to force a tie-break before losing out to the big-serving American.

There was nothing to separate the pair in the second set but once again Eubanks triumphed in the tie-breaker to reach a Masters 1000 quarterfinals for the first time in his career.

Having come through the qualifiers in Miami, the 26-year-old Eubanks has won six straight game and will enter the top 100 in the world rankings for the first time.

Eubanks now faces World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev after the Russian comfortably dealt with French qualifier Quentin Halys 6-4, 6-2 in a match which started after midnight following a four-hour rain delay.

Italian Jannik Sinner also advanced to the last eight without dropping a set and he was in firm control from the outset against Russian sixth seed Andrey Rublev, winning 6-2, 6-4.

Sinner, who has never failed to reach the quarters in his three appearances in Miami, will face Emil Ruusuvuori after the Finn beat Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

MIAMI, Florida — Elena Rybakina extended her winning streak to 11 matches as she booked her place in the Miami Open quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Belgium’s Elise Mertens on Monday while World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka powered past Barbora Krejcíkova in straight sets.

But there was agony for Canadian former US Open winner Bianca Andreescu, who had to be wheelchaired off court after suffering a left ankle injury and retiring against Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Rybakina is looking to complete the “Sunshine Double” after her triumph in Indian Wells, but she was far from euphoric after her victory.

“Physically I’m not the freshest, but I’m happy that I’m managing and finding my way. To be in a quarterfinal is great and hopefully I’m going to play better,” she said.

The Kazakh allowed Mertens to break in the sixth game of the first set, but then two double faults from the Belgian allowed Rybakina to swiftly break back and then she struck again to take the opening set.

The Wimbledon champion broke early in the second set and never looked back and she will now face Italian Martina Trevisan in the quarters.

Trevisan beat former French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-3.

Sabalenka looked in ominous form as she blasted her way to victory over Krejcikova, the 2021 French Open winner, 6-3, 6-2.

Krejcikova had ended Sabalenka’s 13-match win streak in February in Dubai but Sabalenka defeated the Czech two weeks ago at Indian Wells.

This time Sabalenka took just 65 minutes to take care of business, going unbroken in the match and facing just one break point. 

The Belarusian lost just 10 points on her serve and will start as strong favourite on Wednesday against Romanian Sorana Cristea.

Andreescu’s return to form was cut brutally short when she suffered a left ankle injury in her match against Ekaterina Alexandrova.

While attempting a return, Andreescu injured the ankle, collapsing to the court as she yelled in pain.

After receiving medical attention on court she was lifted into a wheelchair and taken off court in tears.

The 22-year-old, who won the US Open in 2019, but then missed all of 2020 due to injury, returned to the circuit last April after a six-month break.

In Miami she has looked very much back to her best with wins over Emma Raducanu, Maria Sakkari and Sofia Kenin.

American Jessica Pegula looked comfortable and in command of her game as she beat Poland’s Magda Linette 6-1, 7-5.

World No. 3 Pegula got off to a flying start — she struck seven winners in the opening nine minutes and won the first three games. With only 19 minutes on the clock she was 5-0 up.

The second set was a different story though with Linette grabbing a 5-2 lead. However, she twice let set point slip on her serve and Pegula went on to win the final five games to secure victory.

Pegula had lamented her slow starts at Indian Wells but said her rapid-fire opening to matches in Miami had not been part of any strategy.

“It wasn’t something I was really thinking about. I think it just has been happening that way, which is nice,” she said.

The American will face Anastasia Potapova after the Russian beat China’s Zheng Qinwen 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) to continue her impressive run.

Romanian Cirstea followed up her quarterfinal at Indian Wells by securing another last eight appearance thanks to a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, win over Czech Marketa Vondrousova.

Revitalised by her Swedish coach Thomas Johansson, Cirstea is enjoying a revival in fortunes at the age of 32 but knows she will need to produce one of the performances of her life is she is to get past Sabalenka.

“I know it’s going to be very tough but I’ve been winning a lot of matches this American swing and I have the confidence. I know what I can play.”