A draw that once promised Carlos Alcaraz versus Novak Djokovic has shifted: Djokovic withdrew, Alcaraz fell to Seb Korda, and the unexpected meeting ahead is between the 21st and 28th seeds, Arthur Fils and Jiri Lehecka. The matchup lacks the marquee names once anticipated, but on form and style it is an appealing contest with a genuine path to a first Masters 1000 final for either player.

They have met three times, all on hard courts, and Fils holds a 2-1 advantage. Two of those matches reached a deciding set with a 6-4 scoreline: Fils prevailed 6-4 in the third in Davis Cup in 2024, while Lehecka returned the favor with a 6-4 third-set win in Toronto last summer.

Lehecka is a textbook ball striker in the Czech tradition: ultra-clean timing on both wings and a polished serve. He wins 75 percent of his first-serve points and averages more than eight aces per match, notable for a player listed at 6’1. Fils channels a more explosive athleticism, generating power with leaping, full swings reminiscent of his countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He has been back on tour full time for a little more than a month, yet is 13-4 in 2026, reached the Doha final, made the Indian Wells quarterfinals, and now stands in his first Masters 1000 semi in Miami.

Each offers a clear case: Lehecka for purity of stroke, Fils for physical tools and growing mental resolve. Lehecka still shows signs of crunch-time nerves; Fils demonstrated grit in his miraculous three-tiebreaker win over Tommy Paul on Wednesday. I will take gritty ambition over pure ball-striking, by a nose. Winner: Fils

Jannik Sinner arrives in the other semi having imposed a near-complete grip on the Sunshine Swing. “We’re trying to understand what’s the best game plan, trying to be in the best possible shape tomorrow, and we see how it goes,” he said. He is 10-0 in matches and 20-0 in sets across Indian Wells and Miami this swing. Two more wins would complete the first Sunshine Double on the men’s side since Roger Federer did it in 2017.

Alexander Zverev provides a stern test, but Sinner has the edge in recent history, owning six straight wins over Zverev dating to 2023. In Indian Wells earlier this month Sinner beat him 6-2, 6-4, serving eight aces, winning 82 percent of his first-serve points and 64 percent of second-serve points compared with Zverev’s 28 percent on second serve. On those metrics Sinner looks the more complete player heading into this rematch.

Jannik Sinner continued his push for a Sunshine Double by defeating Frances Tiafoe 6-2, 6-2 to reach the Miami Open semifinals. The No. 2 seed moved through the match on Stadium Court in one hour and 10 minutes, conceding few opportunities as he advanced to the last four.

Sinner has now won 30 consecutive sets at Masters 1000 events, having bettered Novak Djokovic’s previous record of 24 in the third round. The Italian arrived at Hard Rock Stadium off the back of his BNP Paribas Open title in Indian Wells and was competing for a second Miami trophy after an excellent March run.

The momentum shifted further in Sinner’s favor when world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz exited in the third round to Sebastian Korda, leaving Sinner as the tournament favorite. On his way to the quarterfinals, Sinner beat No. 30 seed Corentin Moutet and Alex Michelsen in straight sets to set up a sixth career meeting with Tiafoe.

Tiafoe, a former Top 10 player, earned his first win over Sinner in 2021 in Vienna and had produced a key victory at this tournament when he dethroned defending champion Jakub Mensik in the third round, toppling the No. 12 seed in a third-set tiebreaker. He followed that with another three-set win over Terence Atmane to reach this stage.

Against Sinner, Tiafoe found himself under pressure early, losing serve in the match’s opening game. He struggled to trouble Sinner’s serve and did not take the Italian to deuce until he trailed by a set and a break. Sinner held his serve, added an insurance break and moved to serve for the semifinal berth.

Sinner surged to triple match point with a well-struck backhand and converted the first to close out the victory, reaching the semifinals in just over an hour.

Arthur Fils produced a late-night escape at the Miami Open, saving four match points to defeat Tommy Paul 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6) in a quarterfinal that featured no service breaks. The 21-year-old Frenchman rallied from 6-2 down in the deciding tiebreak, running off the final six points to complete a two-hour-and-49-minute victory.

There were no breaks of serve across the contest, and Fils’ only break point of the night came at 5-6 in the third set, when Paul’s 40-0 lead on serve disappeared. Paul, who played aggressively and matched Fils’ heavy, spinny shotmaking with bold ball striking, overcame a match point to earn four of his own before the match turned.

Fils’ comeback caps a strong return from injury. Last year he was the only player to reach the quarterfinal stage at the season’s opening three 1000-level tournaments, but a stress fracture sustained during a five-set win over Jaume Munar at Roland Garros forced him to withdraw from his home major and limited him to a single appearance in Toronto until he returned at Montpellier last month.

Since coming back, Fils has posted 13 wins in 17 matches, five of them against Top 30 opponents. He finished runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz at the ATP 500 in Doha, and matched his 2025 Indian Wells last-eight run ahead of his deeper run in Miami. In the third round he produced “the best match I ever played in my life” with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Fils had 2,935 points on his ranking following last year’s French Open. The win over Paul is projected to raise him to 1,640 points in Monday’s rankings. Reaching the final would be worth 1,890 points, while lifting a maiden 1000 crown would move him to 2,240 points. He will face Jiri Lehecka in Friday’s semifinal.