Day 10 at the ATP Masters 1000 in Miami will feature two very interesting semifinal matches, with the defending champion and three players still looking for their first final at this level. None of the Big 3 are present and no current Top 7 players either. So there’s a lot of unpredictability going into the deciding stages of this tournament, especially since both semifinal matchups will be occurring for the first time ever. In fact, of all possible final matchups only Alcaraz vs Ruud has happened before (and only once, on a different surface).
ATP Miami Semifinal Predictions
Casper Ruud vs Francisco Cerundolo
Head-to-head: first meeting
Cerundolo is having an unbelievable fairytale run, but he has also benefitted from some luck, with injuries to Opelka and Sinner forcing them to retire early. Assuming he’s healthy, Ruud will be a considerable step up in terms of quality and consistency and he’ll likely have too much for Cerundolo at this point. Ruud has been in great form so far here in Miami, dropping only one set against Zverev en route to the semifinals. After getting past the Zverev hurdle, he has everything to finally reach his first Masters 1000 final.
Prediction: Ruud in 2
Carlos Alcaraz vs Hubert Hurkacz
Head-to-head: first meeting
This looks to be the more exciting of the two matchups on paper: last year’s champion, fresh off denying Daniil Medvedev a return to the #1 ranking, against the hottest young player on tour. It’d be an exaggeration to say this is the real final, but the winner of this match will start as a favorite on Sunday for sure. Hurkacz lives in Florida and loves the conditions in this tournament so that gives him a very distinct edge. He didn’t lose a single match in Florida last year and the same is true so far this year, where he’s on an incredible run in the doubles draw as well.
That said, Carlos Alcaraz is playing at an unbelievably high level and just seems to have a far more complete game, with considerably more and more potent weapons. He struggled against Kecmanovic, whose staying power in rallies led to a lot of unforced errors, but it’s doubtful whether Hurkacz can cause the same kind of problems. As crazy as it might seem to say about an 18-year-old player, Alcaraz just looks like the flat out better player right now. Te outcome of the match will be on his racket.
Prediction: Alcaraz in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
