Insights: Medvedev tops return shot quality, Sinner the conversion king

Jannik Sinner’s dominant baseline play has been on full display this fortnight at the Miami Open presented by Itau. The Italian is striking the ball cleanly and confidently, producing a standout 81 per cent conversion score, which calculates the percentage of points won when a player has been in attack during a point, according to Tennis Data Innovations.

The two-time Miami finalist is averaging a conversion score 15 per cent higher than the tour-level average and 10 per cent more than his quarter-final opponent, Tomas Machac. Sinner also is winning 67 per cent of baseline battles. Will the Australian Open champion's heavy hitting from the back of the court help him reach his fourth semi-final of 2024 on Wednesday?

Carlos Alcaraz, who meets Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday, sits second on the leaderboard with a conversion score of 77%. Paired with a chart-topping steal score of 47 percent (five percentage points higher than next-best Daniil Medvedev), Alcaraz is a threat when playing offense and defense.

^{Jannik Sinner leads conversion scores and baseline battles while Carlos Alcaraz is producing a 47 per cent steal score. Credit: Tennis Data Innovations}

Reigning champion Medvedev, who is aiming to successfully defend a title for the first time in his career, leads the quarter-finalists with his return quality, boasting an 8.5 score, adding validity to his deep-court return position. Shot quality is calculated in real-time by analysing the speed, spin, depth and width of every shot.

This strength of the No. 4 player in the PIF ATP Rankings sets up for an intriguing clash in the last eight when Medvedev goes against 22nd seed Nicolas Jarry, who is producing an 8.7 serve quality.

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^{Daniil Medvedev is the lone quarter-finalist with a return quality score above eight. Alexander Zverev leads serve and backhand quality. Credit: Tennis Data Innovations}