Daniil Medvedev finished Carlos Alcaraz's perfect 2026 start, after 16 consecutive victories, and the Russian defeated the Spaniard at the Indian Wells semifinals, in a perfect match for Medvedev, leaving behind his controversial match with Jack Draper. Straight sets against the world No. 1, 6-3, 7-6(3) to set up a final with Jannik Sinner, today Sunday at 22:00 CET, 21:00 GMT.
Alcaraz admitted that Medvedev deserved the win, and he was surprised how aggressive he played all the time, without missing as much as he expected. "I think he just played an amazing match. Since the start of the match until the end of the match, he was playing unreal, I've got to say. I have never seen, to be honest, Daniil playing like this.
"He deserves completely the win today. He deserves completely to get through and play a final here. All I can say is just congratulations to him", the World No. 1 said (via ATP.com).
Alcaraz not worried about people thinking he has to win every match
Alcaraz added that he feels a little bit disappointed, but didn't feel pressure in winning every match: "I'm not thinking about 'I need to win' or 'I have to win'. It's just about chasing my goals, chasing what I just set up before every tournament. That's my mindset, so I'm not getting tired about the people thinking I have to win every match."
Alcaraz also sees good things about the loss because it shows just how good his rivals need to play to beat him, "so at some point it's going to be in my favour in some ways."