Tennis News

Cilic Ends Musetti’s Run In Miami

Marin Cilic produced a clinical performance on Monday to reach the Miami Open presented by Itau Round of 16.

The 32-year-old earned a single break in each set to defeat #NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-4 in 75 minutes. Cilic is through to the Round of 16 in Miami for the fourth time. The 2014 US Open champion achieved his best result at this ATP Masters 1000 event in 2013, when he reached the semi-finals (l. to Murray).

This marks the first time that Cilic has claimed three consecutive wins since last year’s Australian Open. The World No. 45 survived three-set battles against Federico Coria and 13th seed Cristian Garin to book his first ATP Head2Head meeting against Musetti.

Cilic will meet fourth seed Andrey Rublev or 29th seed Marton Fucsovics for a spot in the quarter-finals. The 2013 semi-finalist owns one win from three ATP Head2Head clashes against Rublev and is unbeaten in two matches against Fucsovics.

Musetti was making his second appearance at a Masters 1000 tournament. The 19-year-old, who is the youngest player in the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings, claimed straight-sets wins against Michael Mmoh and 23rd seed Benoit Paire in Miami. Musetti also reached the third round on his Masters 1000 debut in Rome last year.

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Challenger #NextGenATP First-Time Winner: Dominic Stricker

The Next Generation of Swiss tennis has arrived. This week, the ATP Challenger Tour returned to Switzerland after a seven-year hiatus, as the Challenger Citta di Lugano made its debut. For Dominic Stricker, the timing couldn’t have been better.  

One of his country’s most promising young stars, Stricker claimed his maiden Challenger crown behind an impressive performance on the indoor hard courts of Lugano. The 18-year-old, who entered the week as an unseeded wild card sitting at No. 874 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, seized the opportunity in grand fashion.

At 18 years and seven months, Stricker joined elite company in becoming the fourth-youngest winner from Switzerland in ATP Challenger Tour history. Only Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka were younger when they celebrated their initial success on the circuit. Federer prevailed in Brest, France, in 1999, while Wawrinka won twice as an 18-year-old in 2003, in San Benedetto, Italy and Geneva, Switzerland.

Youngest Swiss Challenger Champions

When tournament director Riccardo Margaroli and his son – top Swiss doubles player Luca Margaroli – decided to bring Challenger tennis back to Switzerland, this was exactly what they had in mind. That is, to give the younger players in their country more opportunities to develop and grow, while competing against world-class competition.

Making just his second Challenger appearance, the 2020 Roland Garros junior champion has certainly made the most of his time on the professional stage. Stricker exhibited the mental toughness of a veteran in Lugano. Not only did he rally from a set down twice, but he would do so saving two match points in the second round and stunning top seed Yuichi Sugita in the semi-finals. And in Sunday’s championship, he sprinted past qualifier Vitaliy Sachko 6-4, 6-2 in just 70 minutes.

At No. 874 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, Stricker claimed a slice of history in becoming the lowest-ranked winner on the ATP Challenger Tour since 2000. Projected to rise more than 400 spots when the next rankings are released in one week (following the ATP Masters 1000 in Miami), he is also soaring up the ATP Race To Milan standings. The Swiss teen is projected to move up more than 20 positions to the Top 15 in his quest to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals.

Stricker spoke to ATPTour.com following the victory…

Congrats Dominic. How does it feel to win your first Challenger title?
It feels amazing to my first Challenger title. I just played an incredible week, so I’m very happy with what happened here. I’m just going to keep working so I can win more Challengers.

What was the key today? Were you nervous?
Of course I was nervous, but I think he was as well. I started feeling comfortable pretty early though and I played one of my best matches in the past month. I just focused on my game and it worked.

It is always special to win your first title. To win it in Switzerland is even more special. Describe that feeling, winning at home.
It’s amazing to win my first Challenger and to do it in Switzerland is even better. I’m really proud of what I did this week and I’m looking forward to my next tournaments.

This is just your second Challenger tournament. How do you explain your sudden success at this level?
I had a big success in juniors, winning the French Open, but I just kept working hard when I got to the Challenger level. I won my first match at this level in St. Petersburg and played a pretty good week here. I saved two match points in the second round and then I came into the final enjoying every second. I’m just so happy that I won.

The transition from juniors to pros is not easy. What is the most challenging part of playing Challengers?
Every player in every round is amazing and it was hard to put the best level on court in every match. In juniors, you sometimes have some easy matches, but not here in Challengers. You just have to go full effort in every match.

You trained with Roger Federer in Dubai in the preseason. Describe that experience. How did it prepare you for this moment?
It was just an amazing feeling to practise with him for three weeks in the preseason and I really enjoyed it. I learned a lot, so I’m very happy to show what he told me. Yeah, it was just an amazing feeling.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned from Roger?
The biggest lesson is to keep working on my serve. I think I served pretty well here and I hit a lot of aces and had a high winning percentage on my first serve. I’m just going to keep working on that, because it really helps me a lot.

What are your goals for the season? How can this give you confidence for the rest of the year?
Of course this gives me confidence. I’m just going to keep working on myself and my game, and try to win as many matches as possible. I will try my best to get to Grand Slam qualifying as soon as possible.

For those of us that don’t know you, how did you start playing tennis?
I started when I was five years old. I took some lessons at first, and then I met another young talented guy whose dad had a tennis school. They were searching for someone to train with and they chose me. I trained a lot with him and we grew up together and now we’re both still playing pretty good.

Tell us something about you. What do you enjoy doing off the court?
Off court I love playing golf. I always do it on the weekends. That’s the thing I do the most when I’m not playing tennis.

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Tsitsipas Eyes First Win Over Nishikori In Miami

Stefanos Tsitsipas admits the disappointment of falling at the final hurdle in his bid for a maiden ATP 500 title in Acapulco last week is only fuelling his run at the Miami Open presented by Itau. The No. 2 seed said he was using the defeat as a chance to “show something that I haven’t done before” in South Florida this week.

On Monday, the Greek will need to do just that as he bids for a first win over former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori for a place in the Round of 16. The Japanese star won the pair’s only prior ATP Head2Head encounter on home soil in the 2018 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships quarter-finals.

But much has changed for both men since that clash over two years ago. Tsitsipas has lifted his first five ATP Tour titles and reached three Grand Slam semi-finals on his rise to World No. 5. Nishikori, who underwent elbow surgery in October 2019, has fallen some 30 places in the FedEx ATP Rankings. The 31-year-old, however, has beaten Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alex de Minaur and David Goffin this season and he overcame Aljaz Bedene on Saturday in two hours and 50 minutes.

Tsitsipas became only the third player to notch 15 wins this season — after Russians Andrey Rublev (17) and Daniil Medvedev (16) — with his straight-sets victory over Bosnian Damir Dzumhur in the Round of 64. 

“It’s a place that [Nishikori] trains, so I guess he’s acclimatised to the conditions,” Tsitsipas said. “He’s a player that has played very well in the past, and even now he can raise his level really high.

“I’ll try and be ready for the battle. It’s important for me to have matches against strong opponents like him… It’s a strong third round, I won’t hide it. It’s important for me to be ready for that match and be physically prepared.”

In the second match of the day on Grandstand, fourth seed Rublev will square off against No. 29 seed Marton Fucsovics for the third time in the pair’s past four ATP Tour events. Had it not been for Fucsovics’ withdrawal ahead of their Qatar ExxonMobil Open quarter-final, this would have been their fourth clash in as many events.  

After losing the pair’s first meeting in a five-set Davis Cup rubber in 2017, Rublev has won all of the pair’s three matches since, including in the fourth round at Roland Garros last year. The No. 4 seed conceded only three games against Tennys Sandgren in a rain-interrupted showdown on Saturday and has his sights set on reaching the Round of 16 in Miami for the first time.

Hungarian Fucsovics needed three hours and 11 minutes to see off Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round. His best result this season was a runner-up finish to Rublev at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.

Sixth seed Denis Shapovalov required more than three hours on court and even longer off it to overcome two rain delays and Belarusian Ilya Ivashka to reach the Round of 32. A Miami semi-finalist two years ago, the Canadian meets Delray Beach champion Hubert Hurkacz for a quarter-final berth. 

The Pole carries a 2-1 ATP Head2Head record into the clash, however Shapovalov did win their most recent showdown in Dubai this month. Hurkacz hammered 12 aces on Saturday to beat Denis Kudla 7-6(5), 6-4.

“[It is] definitely a super tricky next match,” Shapovalov said. “Me and Hubert have played many times now and just recently in Dubai. I felt like I played really, really exceptional tennis [there]. Hopefully I can use that confidence and use those moments from last week and try to transition it into this week.”

#NextGenATP American Sebastian Korda will attempt to spring his second straight upset when he vies for a maiden Round of 16 appearance in Miami against No. 17 seed Aslan Karatsev. The 20-year-old came from a set down to pull off his biggest career win over No. 10 seed Fabio Fognini.

Korda will face one of the season’s most in-form players in the 27-year-old Russian. Karatsev eased past Mikhail Kukushkin in his debut ATP Masters 1000 match, which marked his first appearance since his maiden ATP Tour title run at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Watch Live | View TV Schedule

SCHEDULE – MONDAY, 29 MARCH 2021

GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
WTA MATCH
[29] M. Fucsovics (HUN) vs [4] A. Rublev (RUS)
WTA MATCH

Not Before 7:00 pm
[28] K. Nishikori (JPN) vs [2] S. Tsitsipas (GRE)

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ start 11:00 am

M. Cilic (CRO) vs L. Musetti (ITA)
[6] D. Shapovalov (CAN) vs [26] H. Hurkacz (POL)
[5] D. Schwartzman (ARG) vs [25] A. Mannarino (FRA)
[17] A. Karatsev (RUS) vs S. Korda (USA)
D. Galan (COL) vs [24] L. Sonego (ITA)

COURT 2 start 11:00 am
[20] U. Humbert (FRA) vs [12] M. Raonic (CAN)
[7] R. Ram (USA) / J. Salisbury (GBR) vs [Alt] M. Demoliner (BRA) / S. Gonzalez (MEX)
T. Fritz (USA) / J. Isner (USA) vs [2] N. Mektic (CRO) / M. Pavic (CRO)
[1] J. Cabal (COL) / R. Farah (COL) vs M. Arevalo (ESA) / H. Tecau (ROU)

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Miami Open: Cameron Norrie beaten as Daniil Medvedev fights off cramps to win

Britain’s Cameron Norrie loses to Taylor Fritz in the Miami Open third round as top seed Daniil Medvedev overcomes leg cramps to advance.

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Fucsovics Out To Flip The Script On Familiar Foe Rublev In Miami

Marton Fucsovics might be careful what he publicly wishes for given his hopes of never playing Russia’s Andrey Rublev again this season are about to vanish after only 11 days. It stands to reason two of the most in-form players of 2021 will cross paths more often.

But after four straight defeats to the 23-year-old since October, the Hungarian World No. 40 is banking on the score beginning to tilt more in his favour. On Tuesday, he will have the chance to exact revenge in the third round of the Miami Open presented by Itau. 

The pair would have squared off at their past four ATP Tour events had Fucsovics not conceded a walkover ahead of the Qatar Open quarter-final at the beginning of the month. Unfortunate luck with draws aside, it points to the 29-year-old’s run of form this season that he is putting himself in positions to face the World No. 8 so often. 

“I hope I don’t play you anymore this year,” Fucsovics joked to the Russian as he left the court, following a quarter-final defeat in Dubai this month. It drew a laugh from Rublev, given he had just extended his ATP Head2Head record to 3-1 over his opponent.

While victory over Rublev has proven just out of reach since a win in 2017, Fucsovics has added some big names to his tally of victims in the past six months. Before having his run halted by the Russian in a tight fourth-round clash at Roland Garros last October, he had stunned fourth seed Daniil Medvedev in the opening round. 

In February, he saved three match points to defeat former champion Stan Wawrinka in a fifth-set Match Tie-break in the second round of the Australian Open. That four-hour triumph was a nod to what the Hungarian assessed as his greatest qualities. 

“I think I’m a fighter, but my game has improved a lot, my serve improved a lot,” he told ATPTour.com in Miami. “I think I’m very consistent from the baseline, I’m moving well around the court and I never get tired.”

The World No. 40 won six straight matches from qualifying to reach his maiden ATP 500 final at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam earlier this month. Rublev had his number there, however the result launched him back into the Top 50 of the FedEx ATP Rankings for the first time since October.

No. 7 in the FedEx ATP Race to Turin, Fucsovics is building his best start to a season. It has been a long time coming after hugely promising results as a junior.

“In the juniors I was No. 1, I won Wimbledon, I won [the] US Open in doubles,” he said. “I started to play juniors at 17.5, so pretty late, but I came up very quickly in the rankings. I had good skills and I was talented, but after I finished juniors it was tough times… 

“I was playing a lot of Futures tournaments. I started to play when I was 16, got my first ranking point at 16, but the big results didn’t come so I went back to juniors to play more matches.” 

Having made the move to Germany at age 14 to advance his opportunities, Fucsovics made the decision to move home to Hungary eight years later. Despite priding himself on his work ethic, he was struggling with the transition to the professional ranks and it took a compatriot who had paved the road before him to set him on his own path to success.

“I moved back to Hungary when I was 22. I was coached by a Hungarian former Top 100 player Attila Savolt,” he said. “He helped me through the tough periods to break into the Top 100. He shared a lot of experience with me and he showed me how to work really hard on and off court as well so I worked very hard physically and this is one of my weapons on the tour now.”

His hopes of avoiding Rublev for the remainder of 2021 may be short-lived, but there are bigger wishes at play.

“I’m 40 now in the ranking,” Fucsovics said. “My dream is to be a Top 10 player.”

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Medvedev: "All I Was Thinking About Was To Not Fall Down"

World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev won “one of the sweetest victories” of his career on Sunday at the Miami Open presented by Itau after fighting through painful cramps for the majority of his third set in a gruelling 7-6(3), 6-7(7), 6-4 battle against Alexei Popyrin.

As if letting three match points slip away in the second set wasn’t already painful enough for the Russian, he was in for even more hurt as cramping soon set in.

“I think winning a Grand Slam final in three sets, straight sets, doesn’t feel the way I felt after the match point today,” Medvedev mused in his post-match press conference.

The top seed edged past 21-year-old Popyrin in a tight opening set, and was closing in on the victory with a break to the good in the second set. He hadn’t even faced a break point until he was serving for the match at 5-3 – and that’s when the contest took a turn. 

After breaking back, Popyrin dug out three match points on his own serve and won the ensuing tie-break to send them into a decider. By that time, Medvedev was already asking the physio for electrolytes and bananas to stave off the cramping. 

At one point, the 25-year-old was in so much pain that he appeared to be mouthing, “Ow, ow, ow” with each step on his way to the baseline. Staying upright was a battle for the visibly hobbled Medvedev, who also had to contend with the relentless hitting coming from Popyrin on the other side of the net.

“The only thing I was thinking about is not to fall down, because if [I] fall down, I don’t think I would be able to get up,” Medvedev said. “There were some moments where I just wanted to lay down and say, ‘Okay, it’s over.’ So I knew that that’s the thing I couldn’t accept myself to do.

“At the end it was just that I almost couldn’t walk. My legs were not following me. I couldn’t bend it or make it straight, I had to keep the same posture. I couldn’t make a step more than, I don’t know, 10 centimetres.”

Medvedev’s ordeal didn’t go unnoticed by Popyrin, who has regularly shared a practice court with the Russian player throughout 2021. In his post-match press conference, the Aussie admitted that his opponent’s dip in form threw off his game plan.

“When I saw him cramping a little bit, he was struggling a bit on the game that he broke me… Thinking back on it now and after talking with my team about it, [I] could have put a slider wide, a kick serve wide and made him run to the other corner and that would have been sufficient,” Popyrin said.

“But I tried to go for the serve that was working for me throughout the whole match. I think in these situations I’ve got to be a little bit smarter and read the situation, but that just comes with experience.”

Medvedev ultimately relied on his own strong serving to keep the points short and get out of trouble. Two hours after his match, the Russian was in good spirits at Hard Rock Stadium after intaking fluids and resting his legs. He told press that he has even more recovery planned for this evening, and will take full advantage of his day off on Monday to rest.

“I feel that it was a funny match in a way, a good match to remember. For me, of course, not for him,” Medvedev said with a wry smile. “You know, the funny thing is that I should have won in two sets. We would not be talking about any of these things, but here we are. So a match to remember, for sure.”

Top seed Medvedev awaits the winner of 16th seed Dusan Lajovic and Frances Tiafoe in the fourth round for a shot at his first Miami quarter-final berth.

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Sinner: "We Practise For These Kind Of Tough Matches"

Staying the distance through nearly three hours on court is a learning curve in itself, let alone switching between the full gamut of match conditions Jannik Sinner has experienced in recent weeks. The #NextGenATP Italian prevailed over 14th seed Karen Khachanov to reach the Round of 16 at the Miami Open presented by Itau on Sunday.

The 19-year-old’s 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 victory over the Russian came under sweltering Florida conditions in two hours and 50 minutes. It was not only the quality of the opponent, which made life difficult.

“After the first set, I tried to get out of this situation because at the end of the day we practise for these kind of tough matches, physically and mentally,” Sinner said. “This you’re learning in practice, with everything. So at the end today, I’m very happy about the win and I’m looking forward to playing another match after tomorrow.”

It was the third showdown that stretched the distance from as many ATP Head2Head encounters between the pair. Sinner now leads that ledger 2-1 and will brace for more Miami heat when he meets Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori for a place in the quarter-finals. The Finn backed up his upset of Alexander Zverev with a three-set triumph over Swede Mikael Ymer.

“It’s about trying to understand how to beat these guys, what can I improve more,” he said. “Trying to understand more the match, obviously it can give me a lot of confidence after today.

“Our call was to play Marseille, Dubai and then here knowing already before that every tournament has different situations, everything is different. I’m ready for that, trying to adapt in the best possible way in every tournament.”

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Golf & football among grassroots sports to return in England from Monday

Outdoor sports including football, golf and tennis can resume for amateur players in England from Monday as coronavirus restrictions are eased.

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Felix: "I Have To Keep Going Forward"

Felix Auger-Aliassime’s Miami Open presented by Itau campaign is over thanks to a familiar foe. The Canadian, though, drew plenty of positives from his second-round defeat to big-serving American John Isner.

It is a state of mind the 20-year-old admits holds him in good stead as he moves forward. The switch to clay beckoned following his 7-6 (5), 7-6(5) second-round loss on Grandstand.

“That’s the only way for me to get to where I want,” Auger-Aliassime said. “If I dwell on my losses and I don’t show a trait of character and resilience I’m not going in the right direction.

“So, no, today is tough loss, but I have to keep going forward. Honestly I’m playing well, I’m feeling good. In this period, as well, I don’t want to be too hard on myself. I think there has been tougher moments also.”

The loss marked the second time in succession he had fallen to Isner in Miami in two tie-break sets, having also gone down in the 2019 semi-finals by the same scoreline. Despite the defeat, the 11th seed actually claimed one more point on his first serve, hit only five aces fewer than Isner’s 16 and never faced a break point.

“We were both serving well. I mean, six and six I guess is a pretty common score against John,” he said. “Yeah, I think I was able to protect my serve well. Didn’t face a break point, so that was good on my part. Then I think I could have adjusted a few things, looking back on the return, to try to find a way to, I don’t know, even bunt a few returns in the court to make him play.

“But again, I was trying my best. In the tie-breaks it’s just a few points here and there. I played poor points at the start of both tie-breaks, and then it just, I guess, slipped out of my hands, really. It was a close one.”

Auger-Aliassime revealed the key to finding a read on the likes of Isner’s monster deliveries boiled down to one thing – focus. Handling the pace of serve alone was only part of the battle and the chances presented were usually fleeting.

“We get used to the speed, but it’s the precision and consistency of it,” he said. “When you get a guy like this, people have to understand the focus that it requires to be like this for, what is it, 26 games. 

“You have to be focused on your serve too, because you know as soon as you get broken, it’s tough to come back… It’s tough to get a racquet on it. Even if you guess where it comes, sometimes it bounces high and so it’s super precise, not only powerful.”

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Medvedev Survives Popyrin In Miami Battle

Top seed Daniil Medvedev needed two tie-breaks, more than two-and-a-half hours, and lots of electrolytes to overcome an inspired Alexei Popyrin 7-6(3), 6-7(7), 6-4 at the Miami Open presented by Itau on Sunday.

The World No. 2 had three match points and served for the match in the second set, but found himself in for a war of attrition as the 21-year-old Aussie took them the distance on Grandstand.

“It’s probably one of the sweetest victories in my career, because I was cramping like hell in the third set,” Medvedev said in an on-court interview. “It’s one thing when you’re cramping when you’re [ahead in the score], but I started cramping before. It was tough to think about the win in these conditions.

“At the same time, I should have won in two sets and we would not be talking about cramping. But anyway, we have the result on the board and I’m happy that I managed to go through all the difficulties of this definitely crazy match.”

Medvedev brought a 2-0 ATP Head2Head lead into his clash against the Aussie, who has also been a regular practice partner throughout the season. It’s been a productive partnership for Medvedev, who has helped lead Russia to the ATP Cup title, reached his maiden Australian Open final and lifted the trophy at the Open 13 Provence in Marseille.

Popyrin, who claimed his first ATP Tour trophy at the Singapore Tennis Open in February, did well to stay with World No. 2. He matched Medvedev’s rhythm from the baseline and found more winners overall (12 to 11) in a tight opening set. But it was the unforced errors that would be his undoing under pressure in the first-set tie-break, as Medvedev closed it out.

He was in for a tougher test in the second set, although Medvedev looked in control after taking a 4-1 lead. The Aussie found another gear, and broke Medvedev from 0/40 for the first time as the Russian served for the match at 5-3. He earned a roar from fans as he saved three match points to levelled the score at 5-5, before converting his third set point to send them into a decider.

Only one break opportunity was on offer in the third set, and it went to the Russian. Medvedev was struggling physically as the match went on, requesting electrolytes from the physio and fighting cramps in the balmy South Florida sun. Medvedev kept the points short, and despite being visibly hobbled he sealed his spot in the fourth round after two hours and 39 minutes.

“Of course, it would have been better to just win it 6-3 in the second or 6-4 when I had a triple match point,” Medvedev said. “As soon as [a missed opportunity] happens you just focus on the next one, but the only thing is it was tough to focus on the next one because I felt the cramps coming. It was not easy.”

Looking to reach the quarter-finals in Miami for the first time, Medvedev will meet unseeded American Frances Tiafoe, who later overcame 16th seed Dusan Lajovic 1-6, 7-5, 6-3. The win was Tiafoe’s third consecutive from a set down this week and booked his third straight Round of 16 appearance in Miami, having advanced as far in 2018 and to the quarter-finals in 2019.

A maiden ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final will be on the line when No. 22 seed Taylor Fritz meets No. 32 seed Alexander Bublik. American Fritz overcame Brit Cameron Norrie 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 on Sunday to reach the Round of 16 for the first time, while Bublik defeated Australian James Duckworth 6-4, 6-4.

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