Day 2 Preview: Murray’s Miami Return

Andy Murray may be familiar with the Miami Open presented by Itau, but the former World No. 1 will find himself in new surroundings on Thursday evening.

The Brit has lifted the trophy in Miami twice but has not played at the tournament since 2016, when it was still being held at its former home in Key Biscayne. His first outing at Hard Rock Stadium headlines the day two action at the ATP Masters 1000 event as he takes on a player he has never beaten in Federico Delbonis.

Delbonis beat Murray in three sets at the 2016 BNP Paribas Open, the pair’s only previous meeting, and the Argentine’s best run in Miami was a fourth-round appearance in 2017. If he or Murray want to get that far this year, they would have to conquer top seed Daniil Medvedev in the second round.

2x Miami Open Champ spotted 👀@andy_murray #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/pGNsFLpsnc

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 23, 2022

Several home favourites also start their campaigns on Thursday, with the American charge led by Tommy Paul, Jenson Brooksby, and Sebastian Korda. 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals runner-up Korda takes on Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina for the first time, hoping it will be the beginning of another dream run in Miami after he reached the quarter-finals on debut in 2021.

Fellow 21-year-old Brooksby opens up against Argentine Federico Coria as he seeks to continue his meteoric rise. The World No. 39 has reached two tour-level finals since bursting onto the Tour in mid-2021 and will hope to build on a fourth-round run at last week’s BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells that included a thrilling win over Stefanos Tsitsipas.

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Also looking to give the home fans something to cheer about is Tommy Paul. He faces Benjamin Bonzi who, like Brooskby, is another recent graduate from the ATP Challenger Tour, having won seven titles at that level since the start of 2021. Paul arrives in Miami fresh from clinching the biggest win of his career against Alexander Zverev in Indian Wells and the American had the edge on Bonzi in the pair’s first meeting at the Adelaide International 2 in January.

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Jack Sock and Miomir Kecmanovic also meet on Thursday, both coming into Miami off the back of a productive time in California. Qualifier Sock took the doubles trophy playing alongside John Isner, while Kecmanovic upset Marin Cilic and Matteo Berrettini on the way to the quarter-finals.

World No. 48 Kecmanovic won the pair’s only previous meeting in Atlanta in 2019 and will equal his best performance in Miami if he beats Sock, but the former Top 10 American knows his way around in south Florida, having reached the quarter-finals in 2017.

Other action on day two sees three-time quarter-finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga take on World No. 78 Jordan Thompson, while #NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti faces off against Alexei Popyrin.

ORDER OF PLAY – THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2022

STADIUM start 12:00 noon
ATP – S. Korda (USA) vs A. Davidovich Fokina (ESP)

Not Before 1:00 PM
WTA – N. Osaka (JPN) vs [13] A. Kerber (GER)
WTA – [11] E. Raducanu (GBR) vs R. Marino (CAN) or K. Siniakova (CZE)

Not Before 7:00 pm
ATP – F. Delbonis (ARG) vs [WC] A. Murray (GBR)

Not Before 8:30 PM
WTA – [1] A. Sabalenka (BLR) vs I. Begu (ROU)

GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
WTA – [18] L. Fernandez (CAN) vs K. Muchova (CZE)
ATP – J. Brooksby (USA) vs F. Coria (ARG)
ATP – [PR] J. Tsonga (FRA) vs J. Thompson (AUS)
ATP – T. Paul (USA) vs B. Bonzi (FRA)

Not Before 7:00 PM
WTA – [3] A. Kontaveit (EST) vs A. Li (USA)

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ start 11:00 am
WTA – [9] D. Collins (USA) vs A. Bondar (HUN)
WTA – M. Linette (POL) vs [8] O. Jabeur (TUN)
ATP – L. Musetti (ITA) vs A. Popyrin (AUS)
ATP – M. Fucsovics (HUN) vs M. Giron (USA)
ATP – [Q] J. Sock (USA) vs M. Kecmanovic (SRB)

COURT 1 start 11:00 am
ATP – [Q] E. Gomez (ECU) vs [Q] Y. Nishioka (JPN)
ATP – D. Altmaier (GER) vs [Q] J. Wolf (USA)
WTA – [27] C. Giorgi (ITA) vs [LL] L. Bronzetti (ITA)
WTA – [Q] A. Kalinskaya (RUS) vs [6] K. Pliskova (CZE)
WTA – [22] B. Bencic (SUI) vs M. Kostyuk (UKR)

COURT 7 start 11:00 am
ATP – [PR] A. Bedene (SLO) vs U. Humbert (FRA)
ATP – P. Martinez (ESP) vs J. Struff (GER)
WTA – H. Watson (GBR) vs [15] E. Svitolina (UKR)
WTA – [WC] D. Saville (AUS) vs [23] S. Halep (ROU)
ATP – [WC] F. Lopez (ESP) / S. Tsitsipas (GRE) vs A. Bublik (KAZ) / A. Golubev (KAZ)

COURT 5 start 11:00 am
ATP – L. Harris (RSA) vs F. Bagnis (ARG)
ATP – [WC] H. Hurkacz (POL) / J. Isner (USA) vs K. Krawietz (GER) / A. Mies (GER)
ATP – [WC] T. Kokkinakis (AUS) / N. Kyrgios (AUS) vs S. Gonzalez (MEX) / A. Molteni (ARG)
ATP – S. Baez (ARG) vs K. Majchrzak (POL)
ATP – L. Djere (SRB) vs A. Rinderknech (FRA)

COURT 2 start 11:00 am
WTA – J. Teichmann (SUI) or A. Riske (USA) vs [31] A. Cornet (FRA)
WTA – A. Sasnovich (BLR) vs [25] D. Kasatkina (RUS)
WTA – [32] S. Sorribes Tormo (ESP) vs K. Kanepi (EST)
WTA – [Q] V. Zvonareva (RUS) vs [19] T. Zidansek (SLO)
WTA – [7] D. Krawczyk (USA) / D. Schuurs (NED) vs E. Gorgodze (GEO) / G. Minnen (BEL)

COURT 3 start 11:00 am
WTA – E. Hozumi (JPN) / M. Ninomiya (JPN) vs [OSE] M. Keys (USA) / J. Pegula (USA)
WTA – [4] C. Gauff (USA) / C. McNally (USA) vs [DA SR] T. Mihalikova (SVK) / K. Peschke (CZE)
WTA – S. Aoyama (JPN) / H. Chan (TPE) vs L. Kichenok (UKR) / J. Ostapenko (LAT)
ATP – [5] J. Cabal (COL) / R. Farah (COL) vs K. Khachanov (RUS) / A. Rublev (RUS)
ATP – [Q] M. Kukushkin (KAZ) vs B. van de Zandschulp (NED)