Due to rain on Wednesday, only one WTA semifinal will be played on Thursday.

Elena Rybakina is just two wins away from completing the “Sunshine Double,” which is winning both Indian Wells and Miami.  But in Thursday’s WTA semifinal, American No.1 Jessica Pegula stands in her way.  The other semifinal is still to be determined, and will not be played until Friday, as Petra Kvitova and Ekaterina Alexandrova will contest their rain-delayed quarterfinal on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the ATP quarterfinals will be completed on Thursday.  Indian Wells finalist Daniil Medvedev faces American Chris Eubanks, who has been the breakout story of this tournament thus far.  Also, Karen Khachanov takes on Francisco Cerundolo, who is vying for his second consecutive semifinal in Miami.  And delayed from Wednesday night, Carlos Alcaraz battles Taylor Fritz in another ATP quarterfinal.

You can find a preview of the Alcaraz/Fritz and Kvitova/Alexandrova quarterfinals in yesterday’s daily preview here.

Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule.  Thursday’s play gets underway at 1:00pm local time.

Chris Eubanks (Q) vs. Daniil Medvedev (4) – 1:00pm on Stadium

Medvedev leads the ATP with 26 wins this season, as well as with three titles.  Daniil has not dropped a set to this stage, though he’s only played two matches thus far due to a walkover earlier this week.

Eubanks has already won six matches this fortnight after coming through qualifying.  And the 26-year-old achieved a career goal of breaking into the top 100 with this quarterfinal run.  Chris became emotional on-court after clinching that feat on Monday, and followed it up with another upset the next day, over Adrian Mannarino.  The American is projected to become ranked 85^th in the world on Monday, but a win on Thursday would propel him into the top 60.

In their first career meeting, of course the self-proclaimed “hard court specialist” Medvedev is a strong favorite.  But I’m quite interested to see how Eubanks performs in the biggest match of his career.  During a rain delay on Monday, Frances Tiafoe provided Eubanks with some advice in the locker room, which Chris credited with helping him come back in the second-set tiebreak once play resumed.  He’s played more freely since that comeback, and Eubanks may feel as if he has nothing to lose on Thursday.

Elena Rybakina (10) vs. Jessica Pegula (3) – Not Before 8:30pm on Stadium

Rybakina is 20-4 this season, and is currently on a 10-match win streak.  If her 2,000 points from winning Wimbledon last summer counted, she’d currently be ranked third in the world.  Elena easily dispatched of Martina Trevisan in the last round.

Pegula is 19-5 on the year, and 10-3 in Miami.  This is her second consecutive semifinal at this event, and she’s the No.3 player in the world without Rybakina’s Wimbledon points counting.  She saved multiple match points to come back and defeat Anastasia Potapova during Tuesday’s quarterfinals.

Pegula is 2-0 against Rybakina, with both matches taking place on hard courts during 2022.  A year ago at this same tournament, Jess prevailed in straight sets.  And last fall in Guadalajara, Pegula outlasted Rybakina in a final-set tiebreak, another match in which the American saved multiple match points.  As confident as Elena currently is, with her big serve and groundstrokes dictating play, it’s hard not to favor the reigning Wimbledon champ.  But based on their recent history, as well as Pegula’s rising confidence after saving match points in the last round, I give Jess the slight edge in Thursday’s semifinals on home soil.

Other Notable Matches on Thursday:

Francisco Cerundolo (25) vs. Karen Khachanov (14) – Cerundolo was in danger of falling out of the top 40 with an early loss in Miami, defending the best result of his career at this level, but has impressed by returning to the quarterfinals, defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime on the way.  Khachanov upset Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last round, and is looking to reach his first Masters semifinal since 2019.  Last summer in Canada, Karen defeated Francisco in three sets.

Thursday’s full Order of Play is here.

Novak Djokovic is set for a return to the US Open after the US senate voted to eliminate some of the COVID-19 restrictions.

The restrictions have been in place for the last two years which have denied foreign travellers the chance to visit America if they are unvaccinated.

As is well documented Djokovic hasn’t had his vaccination which is the reason for his absence at Indian Wells and Miami.

However Djokovic could be set to return to America after the US senate passed a bill to eliminate the COVID-19 restrictions in the country.

US president Joe Biden is expected to put the final signature on the bill which will then allow unvaccinated travellers from abroad to enter the country.

This means that Djokovic will be allowed to play the US Open for the first time since the 2021 final where he missed out on the chance to complete the calendar Grand Slam after losing to Daniil Medvedev.

Djokovic will look to win a fourth US Open title when he returns to Flushing Meadows on the 28th of August.

However in the short-term, Djokovic will look to reclaim his world number one ranking over the clay court season as he plays Monte-Carlo on the 9th of April.

Jannik Sinner has already established himself as one of the world’s top players but he admits there is still plenty of room for improvement.

The 21-year-old is ranked 11th in the world rankings and is the third-youngest player in the ATP top 20 after Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune. So far in his career, he has reached the quarter-finals of all four Grand Slam tournaments, won seven Tour titles and recorded 11 victories over top-10 players. This season he has reached the last eight or better in five out of seven tournaments played and has a perfect 14-0 winning record against players ranked outside the top 50. 

Sinner’s latest strong run has been at this week’s Miami Open where he secured his place in the semi-finals on Wednesday by defeating Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori 6-3, 6-1. One particularly impressive stat from his latest match concerns the Italian’s serving. He won 95% (21/22) of his first service points and only faced one break point which he successfully saved. Speaking afterwards, Sinner said it is an area of his game that he continues to work on. 

”I think we (his team) have improved a lot the serve. I still have days where I struggle a little bit more. I have days where I serve very well,” he said. 
“I felt like against Andrey (Rublev) I served well in the round before. But also (against Ruusuvuori) I served good. Especially in the important moments when he had a breakpoint, I served well there.’
“But still there is a lot of work to do. We tried to find the right motion, the right toss and the right tempo. Not serve every ball in the same motion and then changing the ball a little bit.”

Sinner is the first to admit there are still areas in his game that he needs to improve to reach the very top of men’s tennis or win a Grand Slam title. He is currently coached on the Tour by Darren Cahill who was the former mentor of Simona Halep, Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt. The two began working together last summer after Sinner ended his collaboration with Riccardo Piatti.  

“I feel like I can serve much better. Physically I can get stronger. Also my forehand and backhand,” he replied when asked what he would like to improve. 
“I’m trying to go more to the net because I am already doing a lot of this in my practice sessions but I have to do it also in matches.”

So how good can Sinner become in the future? According to his coach Cahill, he has what it takes to become world No.1. Something which has never been achieved by an Italian player on the ATP Tour in the Open Era. 

“Jannik has everything to become No 1 in the world. Before my arrival he was already a great player, among the top 10 in the rankings: he has incredible weapons and was well trained,” Cahill told La Repubblica.
“Now we need to watch his matches against the best tennis players around and understand what’s keeping him from beating them. Then work on it. It definitely takes time, a couple of years and many match situations.”

In Miami, Sinner will face either Alcaraz or Taylor Fritz for a place in the final. He trails the Spaniard 2-3 in their head-to-head but is yet to play against Fritz on the Tour.