There will be no 'Sunshine Double' on the ATP tour this season after the Indian Wells Masters champion Carlos Alcaraz was dumped out in the semi-final stage of the Miami Open, but the hard-court event in Florida has a fitting final nonetheless.

On Sunday, Alcaraz's conqueror Jannik Sinner will take to the court to play in-form Daniil Medvedev to be crowned Miami Open champion and it looks set to be a pulsating final.

Red-hot Medvedev will be tough to stop 

A third-round exit at this year's Australian Open felt premature for hard-court specialist Medvedev, but the 27-year-old has since gone from strength to strength on the ATP tour and is the man to beat right now. 

In the semi-finals of the Miami Open, Medvedev was drawn against compatriot and childhood friend Karen Khachanov and, although he faced some resistance, he came through the match 7-6 3-6 6-3. 

And it was a win of significance as it means Medvedev is about to become the first player since 1981 to play in five successive ATP finals. 

Before heading to Miami, Medvedev was in explosive form, winning the Rotterdam Open, Qatar Open and Dubai Tennis Championships before also reaching the final of the Indian Wells Masters. 

Spaniard Alcaraz may have got the better of him at Indian Wells but there is no ignoring Medvedev's imperious form and he could cause plenty of problems for final opponent Jannik Sinner in the Miami showpiece.

Sinner hoping to build on Alcaraz scalp 

While perhaps not as eye-catching as those of Medvedev's, Sinner's performances on the hard courts this season have also been impressive and the 21-year-old looks an increasingly dangerous operator on the ATP tour. 

Big-hitting Sinner firstly looked good on his way to the fourth round of the Australian Open, putting up a fight in a five-set thriller with Stefanos Tsitsipas before crashing out. 

He came away from the season's first Grand Slam looking more determined than ever before, cruising to the title at the Open Sud de France before making the final of the Rotterdam Open and the last four at Indian Wells. 

It was Alcaraz who defeated Sinner in the semi-finals at Indian Wells but the Italian got his revenge last time out, recovering from a set down to beat Alcaraz 6-7 6-4 6-2 in the last four in Miami. 

Tenth seed Sinner had been trailing by two break points at 4-3 down in the second set but won 19 of the subsequent 21 points to claim the set and then went on to win the match. 

He will now be after revenge against the man who beat him in the final of February's Rotterdam Open - Medvedev.

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Head-to-head favours Medvedev 

To follow that gritty win over Alcaraz with victory against the ATP tour's in-form player in Medvedev is asking a lot of Sinner, though, and he will not be helped psychologically by the fact he has never beaten his Russian counterpart. 

Indeed Medvedev leads the head-to-head between these players 5-0 and Sinner did not take advantage when he led Medvedev by a set in the Rotterdam Open final earlier this year. 

He went on to lose 7-5 2-6 2-6 and the bad news for Sinner is Medvedev has been winning matches recently when not even at his best. 

Medvedev did not play particularly brilliantly against Khachanov in the semi-finals but managed to grind out the win, and at 10/11, he is the best bet to win this final.

Medvedev can count on hard-court nous 

This will be Medvedev's first ever appearance in the Miami Open final but that is unlikely to faze a player who is 24-3 for the season on the ATP tour. 

It is on the hard courts that he is at his best with all three of his Grand Slam final appearances coming on the surface - twice at the Australian Open and once at the US Open. 

Sinner's win over Alcaraz was impressive but the Spaniard did not look at full fitness in the latter stages of that match and Medvedev has looked the more impressive player over the last few months. 

Both players may be 10/11 to win this match but Medvedev is performing better than those prices suggest and could be worth chancing to win this 2-0 at 9/4.

bet365 News Team

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