Murray sets Medvedev clash in Miami

Miami Open 2022: Men’s Singles Draw | Results | Order of Play

Two-time Miami Open champion Andy Murray has not faced a top-2 ranked opponent in over five years. That will change on Saturday as Murray will face top-seeded Daniil Medvedev in an important match for both players at the Miami Open.

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Medvedev is bidding to reclaim the No 1 ranking from Novak Djokovic and can do so if he reaches the semi-finals in Miami.

Murray, who rolled past Argentina’s Federico Delbonis 7-6(4), 6-1 on Thursday to improve to 8-8 in 2022, and 29-9 lifetime at Miami, is hoping to prove that he still deserves mention among the game’s elite. The 85th-ranked Scot has lost his last five matches against the top-5 and only earned three top-10 wins since the start of 2018. He’ll have his hands full with Medvedev, who defeated him in their only previous meeting, at Brisbane in 2019.

The 34-year-old will carry some confidence into the showdown. He didn’t face a break point against Delbonis, winning 35 of 40 first serve points and dropping just 11 points on serve over the course of the one hour and 33-minute contest.

By doing so the three-time Grand Slam champion avenged a loss to Delbonis in the pair’s only previous meeting, at Indian Wells in 2016.

Murray converted three of our break points and won 62 percent of his return points against the hard-serving southpaw.

Medvedev: not losing sleep over his ranking

Medvedev held the No 1 ranking for three weeks, but his early loss to Gael Monfils at Indian Wells put him back behind Novak Djokovic in the rankings. He says he’s not overly concerned with the ranking – Medvedev knows that if he continues to pick up his level, the ranking will follow.

“It’s not something that stays in my mind nonstop, like I’m not going to bed saying, How could I have lost it, how can I get it back?” he said. “But I know the [scenarios], read them all over the place a little bit, and it’s kind of the same like in Indian Wells. I didn’t manage to play my best there, so that’s why I lost. That’s why I lost the No. 1 spot.

“If I manage to play good tennis here, I think I have my chances of getting it back.”

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