Sinner, Dimitrov set up Miami Open final

Jannik Sinner of Italy eased past defending champion Daniil Medvedev of Russia 6-1, 6-2 to reach the Miami Open men's singles final in only 69 minutes on Friday, and veteran Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria joined him later with a victory over Germany's Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4 that sent him back into the top 10.

"I felt great on court today, usually the more you go on in a tournament the more comfortable I feel and I'm very happy about today's performance," said the 22-year-old Sinner, who recovered from a two-set deficit to claim his maiden Grand Slam title against Medvedev in Australia two months ago.

"I don't think Daniil felt too well today, he made a lot of mistakes he usually doesn't make," he added.

Sinner delivered a clinical performance to improve his head-to-head record with the third seed to 5-6. Medvedev enjoyed a 6-0 run against the youngster till he beat him in the Miami final last year, and has since lost all five of their meetings. Sinner continued his domination this season, stretching his record to 21-1, with the only loss to Spain's Carlos Alcaraz in the Indian Wells semifinal. He is the first ATP player to reach three finals already this season, and is on course to claim his third title just three months in.

Sinner put Medvedev under pressure with three break chances on the latter's opening service game, which he won on a forehand winner to lead 2-0 before he broke again 4-0. Medvedev finally managed to hold in the sixth game but it was in vain as Sinner served out to love to win the set in only 33 minutes and without a single unforced error.

In what was almost a repeat of the first set, Sinner broke to love to open his lead, leaving Medvedev looking baffled, before the world No.4 went wide on a break point to fall to 4-1 down. Sinner broke for a fourth time before holding serve to reach his third Miami final. He is expected to rise to world No.2 should he win on Sunday.

Sinner retains a 2-1 advantage over his final opponent Dimitrov, whom he beat in the round of 32 in Miami last year.

"Sometimes, I think back and I remember the night before the final. I couldn't sleep, I was sweating during the night and now I handle the situation much, much better," he recalled.

"I'm a different player, a different person."