Indian Wells is the kind of place where you can be the best player in the world and still feel uncomfortable. The court is slow, the desert air is dry, the wind keeps changing the ball. That’s why the BNP Paribas Open has a reputation of its own, and winning a big match here often feels like more than a real test.
The No. 11 seed, Daniil Medvedev, produced one of those spectacular wins, beating top seed and reigning Australian Open champion Carlos Alcaraz 6-3 7-6(3) to reach the Indian Wells final. It ended Alcaraz’s push for a third straight title in the desert, and it also stopped his 16-match winning start to 2026.
Medvedev set the tone early. He got the break in the first set, then played the kind of hard-court tennis that has always made him dangerous, flat hitting, taking the ball early, and sending deep returns. Alcaraz showed a few sparks, but Medvedev didn’t let those moments grow. Medvedev served clean, no double faults, hit more aces. He kept stepping in, kept returning deep, and kept Alcaraz under pressure, so the first set stayed on Medvedev’s side.
The second set was much tighter. Alcaraz raised his level and went 3-1 up, and for a moment it felt like the match could slip into a third set. Medvedev stayed calm, broke back, and dragged it to a tiebreak. Once it got there, he played the better points and took it 7-3, closing the match in straight sets.
After the match, Medvedev was honest about what it takes to beat Alcaraz right now. “Playing someone like Carlos, you play many times, you lose many times,” he said. “He’s an amazing player with amazing shots, defence, attack, return, everything. So, you need to be at your best.”
Alcaraz was honest in his on court interview, praised Medvedev’s level and admitted he was surprised by how well the Russian played. “ I have never seen, to be honest, playing Daniil like this,” he said, before adding, “He completely deserves the win today.”
For Medvedev, this win said a lot. These days in men’s tennis, most of the talk is about Sinner and Alcaraz, and players like Medvedev and Zverev often get tagged as the older generation, as if they can’t match the Sincaraz level in the current era. But on this night, Medvedev reminded everyone he still belongs right in the middle of it. When he plays like this, he can beat anyone, anywhere. And his statement win also gave the tennis world a different major final, something other than the usual Sinner vs Alcaraz story that we have seen so often lately.
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