Tennis News

Look Out, John! Isner Bashes Head On Umbrella Mid-Match In Miami

Height might be an issue off court every so often for John Isner, whose 6’10” frame forces him to duck through doorways. But on court, his size has always been an advantage. That was until Tuesday at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

Isner was walking to his chair for a changeover during his fourth-round match against Roberto Bautista Agut when he banged his head on the umbrella hovering over his seat. The umbrella is there to protect the American from the sun, but on this occasion, Isner needed protection from the umbrella.

The 2018 champion took it well, looking at the nearby camera with a smile and saying: “Did you get that?”

Isner’s height paid off in other ways against the Spaniard, as he struck 23 aces. But Bautista Agut ultimately saved a match point to defeat the 18th seed 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(7) after two hours and 18 minutes.

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Dodig/Polasek Maintain Hot Streak In Miami

Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek got off to a hot start to their 2021 season, and it’s only getting better in Miami.

The fourth seeds eliminated Oliver Marach and Luke Saville 7-6(4), 6-4 after one hour and 48 minutes on Tuesday to reach the semi-finals of the Miami Open presented by Itau. The Croatian-Slovakian duo will play Marcelo Arevalo and Horia Tecau or Daniel Evans and Neal Skupski for a spot in the championship match at this ATP Masters 1000 event.

Dodig and Polasek competed well under pressure against Marach and Saville, saving five of the six break points they faced while converting two of their nine opportunities. The winners claimed 43 per cent of their first-serve return points en route to their victory.

The duo, which got together in 2019, won this year’s Australian Open and made the Dubai semi-finals. Their first big breakthrough as a team came two years ago, when Dodig and Polasek triumphed at the Western & Southern Open. They have claimed three tour-level trophies together and qualified for the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals.

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Medvedev Makes Miami Breakthrough

Just two days after surviving cramps in his third-round win against Alexei Popyrin, Daniil Medvedev earned a place in his maiden Miami Open presented by Itau quarter-final on Tuesday with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Frances Tiafoe.

In hot and humid conditions on Grandstand, the World No. 2 landed 24 winners and outlasted his opponent in baseline rallies to advance in 92 minutes. Medvedev, who is competing as the top seed at an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time, is chasing his fourth trophy at the level this week.

“It was definitely a tough match,” said Medvedev. “[There were] a lot of great points, some of them he won, some of them I won… The serve helped me a lot today, especially in the second set.”

This year, Medvedev has already led Russia to the ATP Cup trophy and collected his 10th ATP Tour crown in Marseille. The reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion improved to 17-2 in 2021 with his fourth win in as many ATP Head2Head clashes against Tiafoe.

Medvedev will face Roberto Bautista Agut for a place in the semi-finals. In the opening match on Grandstand, the Spaniard saved a match point to defeat 2018 champion John Isner 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(7) in two hours and 18 minutes.

“I don’t really care about ATP Head2Head, because it is always a new match. We saw some with Roger when he is like 15-0 against someone and the guy finally gets a win in maybe an important match.

“I am just looking forward to tomorrow. Roberto is a hell of a player. I feel like sometimes, when I have practised with him and played against him, that his Ranking should be higher. There are reasons why it is not and I am going to try to do something with it tomorrow.”

The Russian will enter that match seeking his first win against the seventh seed. Bautista Agut defeated Medvedev in the 2017 Tata Open Maharashtra final and also overcame the 6’6” right-hander in last year’s Western & Southern Open quarter-finals.

In a high-quality match, both players battled for baseline supremacy with 29 rallies passing the nine-shot mark (16-13 Medvedev). Tiafoe played with consistent aggression to push Medvedev into defensive positions, but it was the Russian who snatched late breaks in each set.

Medvedev charged across the baseline to extend rallies at 5-4 in the opener and capitalised on errors to take a one-set lead. In the second set, the Russian fired consecutive backhand winners, including a return winner on break point at 4-3, to serve for the match. Medvedev ended the fourth-round encounter with his 11th ace of the match.

Tiafoe was aiming to reach his second Miami quarter-final (2018). The 23-year-old battled through consecutive three-set matches against Stefano Travaglia, 19th seed Daniel Evans and 16th seed Dusan Lajovic to reach the Round of 16.

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Miami Open: Australia's Ashleigh Barty into semi-finals

Defending champion Ashleigh Barty moves into the Miami Open semi-finals with a battling win over Belarusian seventh seed Aryna Sabalenka.

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Bautista Agut Saves M.P. To Return To Miami Quarter-finals

Roberto Bautista Agut gained revenge for his 2019 quarter-final loss to John Isner on Tuesday at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

The Spaniard saved match point at 5/6 in a final-set tie-break to eliminate the 2018 champion 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(7) in two hours and 18 minutes. Bautista Agut entered his fifth ATP Head2Head encounter against Isner with a 1-3 record, but he played with forehand aggression in the closing stages to improve to 11-7 this season.

Across seven appearances at the tournament’s previous venue in Key Biscayne, Bautista Agut reached the Round of 16 on two occasions. Since the tournament moved to Hard Rock Stadium in 2019, the 32-year-old has advanced to the quarter-finals in each edition of the event (2019, ’21).

Bautista Agut is the first player to win a tie-break against Isner at the venue. The 6’10” American entered the match decider with an 11-0 tie-break record at the home of the Miami Dolphins.

The Spanish No. 2 took advantage of missed first serves in the first set. Bautista Agut rushed Isner with aggressive second-serve returns and won 64 per cent of points (7/11) behind the American’s second delivery to take the opener in 31 minutes.

Isner responded well in the second set, as he rushed his opponent into errors with deep groundstrokes and fired a backhand winner down the line to gain the only break of the set. With no service breaks in the decider, Isner charged into a 3/0 lead in the final-set tie-break and he held a match point at 6/5. Bautista Agut trusted his forehand to escape danger and, on his second match point, he used the shot to force Isner into an error and clinch victory.

The nine-time ATP Tour titlist is through to his third quarter-final of the season, following runner-up finishes in Montpellier (l. to Goffin) and Doha (l. to Basilashvili). Bautista Agut also led Spain to last month’s ATP Cup semi-finals (l. to Italy).

Standing between Bautista Agut and a first Miami semi-final will be top seed Daniil Medvedev or American Frances Tiafoe. The World No. 12 owns a 2-0 ATP Head2Head advantage against Medvedev and won his only previous meeting against Tiafoe.

Did You Know?
As a result of Isner’s loss, there will be a first-time champion in Miami this year.

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Sinner Storms Into First ATP Masters 1000 QF

Jannik Sinner continues to check “firsts” off his list. The #NextGenATP Italian reached his maiden ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final on Tuesday by beating Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori 6-3, 6-2 for a spot in the last eight of the Miami Open presented by Itau.

This is just the 19-year-old’s third Masters 1000 main draw, but Sinner is proving himself plenty comfortable at the elite level. The teen recovered well from a nearly three-hour-long slugfest against Karen Khachanov in the third round to dispatch Ruusuvuori after one hour and 10 minutes.

“For me it means a lot. The first goal is always trying to improve day after day, going on practice courts and then when you have sometimes good results, it makes you happy,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “I’m very happy about that and obviously I’m looking forward to tough matches here.”

Sinner will next play 22nd seed Taylor Fritz or 32nd seed Alexander Bublik to reach the semi-finals. The 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals champion has never played Fritz, and he defeated Bublik in their first ATP Head2Head meeting 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 two weeks ago in Dubai.

“You have to go on court and try to win matches. I’m just trying to do that,” Sinner said. “Sometimes it works, sometimes not. For me, it’s just important giving 100 per cent day after day and then I have to see what’s going to happen.”

Ruusuvuori came out firing, breaking the Italian’s serve in the first game of the match. But the 21st seed immediately returned the favour in a battle of two of the biggest-hitting rising stars on the ATP Tour.

Both men battled to take control of rallies early to stop their opponent from doing the same, and Sinner did a better job of playing from defensive positions. As the match wore on, Ruusuvuori began moving forward, but it was too late to turn the contest around.

“It was maybe the most important part, trying to go on court a little bit faster than him, trying to take the ball a little bit earlier,” Sinner said. “He’s obviously a very great player, beating very great tough opponents here. I was ready for this today and I’m very happy,”

This was the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting. However, they played at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Canberra last year, with Ruusuvuori triumphing in straight sets.

It was an impressive tournament debut for Ruusuvuori, who became the first Finnish player to reach the fourth round in Miami since Jarkko Nieminen in 2007. There were linesmen for this match rather than HawkEye Live. The system was not working at the start of the contest, so the players left the court and returned once linesmen arrived.

Did You Know?&#x2028
Sinner has now reached his first Masters 1000 quarter-final and Grand Slam quarter-final before his 20th birthday. At Roland Garros last year, the teen advanced to the last eight, where eventual champion Rafael Nadal ended his run.

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Andy Murray eyes post-tennis career change as golf caddie

Andy Murray says he would like to become a caddie to a professional golfer when his tennis career ends.

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Sinner Seeks To End Finn's Charge For Miami Quarter-final Berth

A year is a long time in the seminal stages of Jannik Sinner’s and Emil Ruusuvuori’s careers. One of the #NextGenATP Italian and the 21-year-old Finn will reach the quarter-finals of the Miami Open presented by Itau for the first time on Tuesday.

Both have shot up the FedEx ATP Rankings since. Sinner, who needed nearly three hours to battle past 14th seed Karen Khachanov on Sunday, went on to claim his first two ATP Tour titles since that Canberra clash and reached a quarter-final at a Grand Slam for the first time at Roland Garros. 

The 19-year-old is pressing on the cusp of the Top 30 and remains the highest seed standing in a wide open quarter of the draw. 

“It’s about trying to understand how to beat these guys, what can I improve more, trying to understand more the match,” Sinner said after defeating Khachanov. “Obviously it can give me a lot of confidence, but it’s always trying to understand what I’ve done good and what I can do better.”

Ruusuvuori, the World No. 83, has reeled off impressive three-set wins over #NextGenATP Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, third seed Alexander Zverev and fellow Scandinavian Mikael Ymer in succession to reach his maiden ATP Masters 1000 Round of 16 in Miami this week. The first Finn through to the fourth round in Miami since Jarkko Nieminen in 2007, Ruusuvuori expected a vastly different match against Sinner this time.

“We’ve both have played a lot of tennis in between,” he said. “He’s improved a lot and has been playing great, as we all know. It’s going to be a very tough match again, he had a big win, it was a long time on the court too… We know each other pretty well and we’ve practised often, which is fun. He hits the ball so well, it’s going to be a fun match.”

As one of four American men through to the Round of 16, Frances Tiafoe will bid to match his best run in Miami from 2019, when he reached the quarter-finals (l. to Shapovalov). The 23-year-old will need to overturn a 0-3 ATP Head2Head record against top seed Daniil Medvedev to do so.

Tiafoe needed three sets in each of his first three matches to reach the Round of 16, while Medvedev overcame cramps and a dogged Alexei Popyrin in a two-and-a-half-hour-plus clash to book his place. The Russian World No. 2 will look to reach the quarter-finals in Miami for the first time.

Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas needed three sets to move past resurgent former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori into the fourth round on Monday night. The Greek will next meet Italian 24th seed Lorenzo Sonego, aiming to maintain his perfect record of having reached the quarter-finals or better in every event since his run to the Australian Open semi-finals in February.

While Tsitsipas is gunning for his seventh ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final appearance, Sonego – who beat Daniel Elahi Galan – will look to reach his second at this level, having reached the last eight at the 2019 Rolex Masters in Monte Carlo.

Russian fourth seed Andrey Rublev looks to extend his tour-leading 18-3 record for the season when he meets former World No. 3 Marin Cilic in the Round of 16. Rublev landed his third victory this month over Marton Fucsovics to advance, while Cilic ended the run of #NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti in straight sets.

Americans Sebastian Korda, Taylor Fritz and John Isner join Tiafoe in flying the home flag in their respective Round of 16 encounters. A maiden ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final is on the line for #NextGenATP player Korda and Fritz. 

Korda meets No. 5 seed Diego Schwartzman, while 22nd seed Fritz takes on 32nd seed Alexander Bublik. The 2018 champion, Isner, squares off against seventh seed Roberto Bautista Agut, while Pole Hubert Hurkacz looks to add a second Canadian seed to his victims when he meets 12th seed Milos Raonic.

ORDER OF PLAY – TUESDAY, MARCH 30

GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
[18] J. Isner (USA) vs [7] R. Bautista Agut (ESP)
WTA MATCH Singles
[1] D. Medvedev (RUS) vs F. Tiafoe (USA)

Not Before 7:00 pm
WTA MATCH Singles

Not Before 8:30 pm
M. Cilic (CRO) vs [4] A. Rublev (RUS)

COURT 1 start 11:00 am
E. Ruusuvuori (FIN) vs [21] J. Sinner (ITA)
[22] T. Fritz (USA) vs [32] A. Bublik (KAZ)
[26] H. Hurkacz (POL) vs [12] M. Raonic (CAN)
[5] D. Schwartzman (ARG) vs S. Korda (USA)

Not Before 7:00 pm
[24] L. Sonego (ITA) vs [2] S. Tsitsipas (GRE)

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ start 1:00 pm
WTA MATCH Doubles
WTA MATCH Doubles
[4] I. Dodig (CRO) / F. Polasek (SVK) vs O. Marach (AUT) / L. Saville (AUS)

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Tiafoe On Medvedev Showdown: 'I'm Not Afraid Of Anybody'

When Frances Tiafoe walks on Grandstand Monday to face Daniil Medvedev for a spot in the Miami Open presented by Itau quarter-finals, the American will not be intimidated.

It doesn’t matter that the Russian star has won all three of their ATP Head2Head meetings, and that he only dropped five games against Tiafoe at last year’s US Open. Medvedev is the top seed and a three-time ATP Masters 1000 champion, but that’s okay, too. The World No. 58 fully believes he can spring the upset.

“I’m not afraid. I respect a lot of guys, but I’m not afraid of anybody on the Tour,” Tiafoe said. “I don’t have that scared [mentality] of already being a break down when I go out there. When I play these guys, I’m here to win. This is my court and they have to be sharing it.

“You almost have to flip the psyche of the situation. I’m ready to go. I got three good matches under my belt and I’m ready to go. It’s going to be a good one.”

Entering this tournament, Tiafoe had only rallied from a set down in a tour-level match once since the 2019 Mutua Madrid Open, and that came at last year’s US Open against Andreas Seppi.

The American has lost the first set in all three of his matches this week, and battled back each time to make the Round of 16 in Miami for the third time. This marked the first event where Tiafoe has won three straight matches on the ATP Tour from a set down. 

“It’s growth. Those are the things I’m looking to do. It’s been great this week,” Tiafoe said. “[Losing the first set has] definitely made it tougher. I wish I could win these matches easier, but those are hell of a players… these are the matches I need to start winning and I’m happy I am.”

One thing Tiafoe has never had a problem with is raising his level to compete against the world’s best. At this year’s Australian Open, he pushed eventual champion and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic to four sets, which included two tie-breaks. At the 2017 US Open, Tiafoe battled into a fifth set against Roger Federer.

“Those are the moments you live for. You live for those moments to play the best players in the world and see where you’re at and try to shake the world,” Tiafoe said. “That’s what I live for. It’s box office, it’s prime time. That’s what I’m about and I’m going to come for him.”

Although their meeting in Flushing Meadows last year was one-sided, Tiafoe has challenged the Russian before. At last year’s Australian Open, the American extended their match to four sets.

“You know he’s going to serve great. He’s going to run down balls, he’s going to put balls in awkward positions and make you play the extra ball time after time. You have to understand that and be okay with that,” Tiafoe said. “You have to go in with that mindset.

“[It is] understanding that that’s what it’s going to be. He’s waiting for you to crack. And [you have to] try to make an impact, stay super mentally tough. It’s not going to be easy. He’s one of the toughest customers we have and I’m just going to compete really hard.”

Tiafoe arrived in Miami with just a 6-6 record on the season. After his strong effort against Djokovic in Melbourne Park, the 23-year-old tried his hand on clay in South America, where he went 3-3. But an upset against Medvedev would not just put Tiafoe in his second Masters 1000 quarter-final; it would set him on an upwards trajectory for the rest of 2021.

“It’d be massive because I’ve had a pretty slow start to the year,” Tiafoe admitted. “This week I’ve been getting wins, tough wins, it’s big. Winning tomorrow would be huge. That changes your whole mindset for the rest of the year. You take one event to change your whole perspective and you just keep riding that wave.

“I’m really looking forward to tomorrow and for the people who don’t, they’re going to see tomorrow. I believe I can beat anybody.”

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Tsitsipas Halts Nishikori Comeback In Miami

Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas overcame a mid-match wobble against Kei Nishikori as he sealed a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory on Monday to reach the fourth round at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

The Greek player took commanding leads in the first and third sets, but he was in for a battle as the resurgent Nishikori, former World No. 4 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, made him work for every point in between. Tsitsipas fired 32 winners – including 14 from his forehand – across nearly two hours on his way to victory.

Tsitsipas moved into the fourth round in Miami for the second edition in a row, and will face 24th seed Lorenzo Sonego for a spot in the quarter-finals.

The second seed came flying out of the blocks on Grandstand against 28th seed Nishikori, who has been fighting to regain his form since returning from an injury break last year. Tsitsipas broke early to build up a 3-0 lead, and didn’t take his foot off the gas as he dropped only four points behind his serve during the set.

By contrast, Nishikori and Tsitsipas needed a hard-fought 20 minutes to decide the opening three games of the second set – and they all went to the Japanese player, who looked to be swinging more freely and hitting smart drop shots. Nishikori earned his lone break of the match and held serve under pressure, shaking off three break points in his first two service games to emerge with the 3-0 lead.

But he couldn’t keep up that high level in the third set, and Tsitsipas capitalised on Nishikori’s dip in form. After the Japanese player surrendered his serve in a marathon 10-minute first service game, it was one-way traffic for Tsitsipas as he closed out the victory in an hour and 56 minutes.

Tsitsipas will face 24th seed Sonego for a spot in his first Miami quarter-final, and his seventh quarter-final at an ATP Masters 1000. Sonego, who defeated Daniel Elahi Galan 7-6(6), 6-3, is into the fourth round at this level for just the second time after a run to the 2019 Monte Carlo quarter-finals.

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