Ferrer Rolls Back The Years In Miami

David Ferrer might be retiring in two months, but he is still a man no one wants to face on the ATP Tour.

The Spaniard, who turns 37 on 2 April, won his first ATP Masters 1000 match in 12 months on Thursday, beating American Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-2 at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

Ferrer feasted on Querrey’s second serve, winning 87 per cent of those points (20/23), and pressured the former World No. 11 all match. Ferrer raced out to a 3-0 behind a break of serve, and added three more breaks in the second set to cruise to victory in just 74 minutes.

The 27-time ATP Tour titlist is playing in Miami for the 17th and final time. Ferrer has said he will retire at the Mutua Madrid Open in May.

“I enjoyed it a lot. It’s Miami, a lot of people have supported me all these years. For me, it’s a great experience to play in this new stadium,” Ferrer said. “I’m really happy because I played really good… I am doing my goal, and my goal is to be competitive.”

But he still has work to do in South Florida, where he reached the 2013 final (l. to Murray). Ferrer will next meet second seed Alexander Zverev, who beat him in the Miami second round last year.

Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic set up a #NextGenATP showdown with American Frances Tiafoe by beating Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-2, 7-5. Kecmanovic had only one tour-level win before last week’s BNP Paribas Open, but the 19-year-old became the first lucky loser to reach the Indian Wells quarter-finals since 1990 (l. to Raonic).

Former junior World No. 1 Chun Hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei came up short during his first Masters 1000 match. The 17-year-old, who won junior titles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon last year, fell to Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-4, 7-5. Sousa will next play 31st seed Steve Johnson.

Qualifiers Reilly Opelka and Andrey Rublev each won their third match in a row. Opelka held off German Jan-Lennard Struff, who beat Zverev last week in Indian Wells, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 behind 25 aces. The 6’11” American will face 5’7” Argentine Diego Schwartzman in the second round.

Rublev, who reached the 2017 and 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals, secured a second-round meeting with ninth seed Marin Cilic of Croatia. The Russian knocked out Japan’s Taro Daniel 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Frenchman Jeremy Chardy will next meet countryman and 23rd seed Gilles Simon after outlasting Chilean Nicolas Jarry 6-7(1), 6-2, 7-6(5).