Mentally strong

“I stayed strong mentally,” Alcaraz said. “I think that’s a really important part in this game.

“This kind of match, a set down playing against someone that’s playing an unbelievable game — I’m really happy with the things I’ve done.

“I changed my style a little bit, I changed my game a little bit, and I think it worked very, very well,” said Alcaraz, who is chasing his first title since winning Wimbledon last year.

Sinner’s mistakes were multiplying in the third set and Alcaraz broke in the third game, delivering a high backhand volley to end another scrambling rally.

World number three Sinner, who had dived to get a ball back, came up shaking out his right arm and rubbing his elbow.

He suddenly was powerless to stop Alcaraz, who won five straight games, clinching the match with a forehand winner.

It was the second straight year that Alcaraz stopped Sinner in the Indian Wells semi-finals.

“It’s for sure not the ending that I wanted, but playing against him, it’s always tough,” Sinner said. “I tried to play good tennis, which I have done, especially in the first set.

“Then I made a couple of mistakes. The momentum has changed. He raised his level.”

Medvedev said the chilly evening conditions made it hard to find a groove in the opening set against Paul, but like Alcaraz he was able to make some adjustments.

He won the first four games of the second set but Paul attacked the net aggressively to claw back and force the tiebreaker, in which the American rolled his ankle on the sixth point.

Medvedev won the last five points of the tiebreaker to level the match and seized a 5-1 lead in the third, finally fending off a pair of break points in the final game to close it out.

The reward is a chance to avenge last year’s loss to Alcaraz and claim the only one of the six hardcourt Masters 1000 titles he has yet to win.

“I know what happened last year so I’m going to try my best to try to turn this around, to play better, to play stronger, more on the lines, hit more aces, stuff like this,” Medvedev said. “Hopefully I will be able to do it.”