Sometimes a loss doesn’t need to be overanalysed.

Dominic Thiem refused to link his opening-round exit on Friday at the Miami Open presented by Itau to a comedown after winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title just days earlier at the BNP Paribas Open. The third seed gave full credit to his opponent, Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, and said he put in an ordinary performance on a day when he needed to be great.

“I had a lot of emotions the last week, but I still had three or four days since then and that should be enough,” said Thiem. “There were some moments like when he gave me the break (at 1-1 in the second set) and I should have continued [with the momentum], but in general, he was just better. I wasn’t quite on my level like last week, but it was an okay match for me.”

Hurkacz isn’t an opponent anyone wants to face these days. The 22-year-old defeated Kei Nishikori en route to his first Masters 1000 quarter-final last week in Indian Wells (l. to Federer) and has a jumped more than 30 spots in the ATP Rankings this year to his current career-high standing of No. 54.

“His first serve is very tough to read and he returned well in situations when he needed it,” said Thiem. “My serve was not big enough, but he put a lot of pressure on it and he deserved to win.”

Location may have also played a role in Friday’s outcome. The high-bouncing courts at Indian Wells suit Thiem’s game perfectly, but he has struggled in Miami in recent years. Although he reached the quarter-finals in 2015, he now sports a 7-5 record at this event and has lost his past two matches here.

But rather than dwell on defeat, Thiem will turn his attention to the clay-court season he has historically excelled in. Last year, he took the title at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon (d. Simon) and finished runner-up at Roland Garros (l. Nadal) and the Mutua Madrid Open (l. Zverev).

He will begin his clay season in earnest next month at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. With his hard-court success in Indian Wells, his fans have plenty of reason to be excited about what he can do on his favourite surface.

“Now it’s clay court time,” said Thiem pointedly. “I’ll go back to Europe soon, rest for a few days and prepare for Europe.”

It takes a lot to deflate a lucky loser who has just toughed out a first-round third-set tie-break win at ATP Masters 1000 level. But standing on the side of Interstate 95 just north of Miami at close to three o’clock in the morning is enough to dampen any man’s mood.

So it was for American Mackenzie McDonald, who went from the high of a 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(4) win over #NextGenATP Frenchman Ugo Humbert in the early hours of Friday morning to digging out his auto club card at 2.40 a.m. when his girlfriend’s car suffered a flat tyre.

“I pulled out of here and the car just felt a little weird. My girlfriend (former NCAA singles All-American Chanelle Van Nguyen) was in the car with me and I just kept driving and she said drive slowly. I was like alright, we just have to get home, it’s only 15 miles away,” McDonald said. “I was going 60 miles per hour in like the fourth lane and all of a sudden the tyre just literally busted. The car was swerving a bit. Luckily there was nobody on the road that early and I just put the hazards on, went over to the side, and was stuck on the I-95.”

McDonald’s girlfriend lives in Florida, so the World No. 60 is staying at her home about 15 miles away from Hard Rock Stadium, the venue for this ATP Masters 1000 tournament. McDonald himself drove home after his marathon two-hour, 42-minute victory, his first-ever win at the event.

One moment he was excited, and the next he was disappointed after feeling his tyre’s rim scraping on the concrete.

“I just had to take care of it and get home. The first thing on my mind was getting home. I just did what I had to do and dealt with it,” McDonald said. “We didn’t have a spare tyre. We had no way of getting the car home, so we needed a tow truck. My girlfriend’s Dad came with another car. As soon as he came with the other car we swapped and my girlfriend and I drove home. I left him with the car because I had to get home. We got home around 4:00 a.m.”

Not only did McDonald need to recover for his next singles match on Saturday against reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas, but he had a doubles match to play alongside countryman Reilly Opelka on Friday.

“It was really tough. I didn’t eat dinner last night, either. I just wanted to get home and get to bed. I had trouble sleeping, especially after that win, too and everything going on and knowing I had doubles in like 12 hours,” McDonald said. “I woke up at 11, kept waking up, finally woke up at 11, got some food in me. I was pretty tired during that doubles, so it’s a good feeling now.“

While McDonald and Opelka lost against second seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, McDonald will have to reset for his clash with Tsitsipas. The American lost in the second round of qualifying against Italian Lorenzo Sonego. But after gaining new life as a lucky loser, winning a marathon and dealing with a late-night flat, he’ll hope to get back to business on Saturday.

“It’s all good now,” McDonald said. “It’s the first time I got into a tournament as a lucky loser and won a match at the pro level. For me, it’s actually really weird losing and then still being in the tournament. I’m playing really good tennis… and I think that showed yesterday. Now it’s just about resting up and I’ll be ready for tomorrow.”

March might become Hubert Hurkacz’s favourite month after the Miami Open presented by Itau. The 21-year-old Pole earned his first Top 5 win on Friday in South Florida, upsetting BNP Paribas Open champion and World No. 4 Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-4.

The 21-year-old Hurkacz, who made the quarter-finals in Indian Wells (l. to Federer), converted four of his 10 break points against Thiem, who was coming off his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in the desert. 

“It’s great. I’m just trying to enjoy every moment now, to be able to play that match against Dominic today was really special for me. He’s an unbelievable player so I needed to play on the top level… I’m very happy with that” Hurkacz said.

Hurkacz competed at the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals and, at No. 54 in the ATP Rankings, is on the brink of breaking into the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings. He improved to 3-3 against Top 10 opponents, a record that includes his two wins against Kei Nishikori this year (Dubai, Indian Wells).

“He played really well tonight and he’s also had some really good weeks leading in Dubai and Indian Wells,” Thiem said. “I didn’t play badly, but I did some things bad. He gave me the early break and I should have continued with that better than I did. But generally, he was just better and I wasn’t quite on my level like last week.”

The 6’5” right-hander will next meet #NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in a matchup that could be on repeat throughout the years. The 18-year-old Auger-Aliassime ran away from Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.

Auger-Aliassime won 67 per cent of his first-serve points and overcame six double faults against the reigning Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open champion.

Not too easy, but not too comfortable, either: It’s about the exact way you’d want to start your attempt for a record seventh Miami Open presented by Itau title.

No. 1 Novak Djokovic improved to 6-0 against Aussie Bernard Tomic on Friday night, dismissing the 26-year-old 7-6(2), 6-2 at Hard Rock Stadium.

“[Tomic] doesn’t give you much rhythm at all. Every ball is different. He can play equally well in the court and far behind the baseline, slows down the pace. He just has a very unconventional shot. Kind of hard to play someone that you can’t really predict what’s next,” Djokovic said. “Second set I played better. Overall it was a solid match.”

It was Djokovic’s first match at Hard Rock Stadium, where the tournament moved to this year after 32 years at Key Biscayne. “It’s a nice court. They’ve done a really good job. They have taken, I think, a very bold step forward in the right direction… For us being a part of the Miami Dolphins Stadium is a treat,” Djokovic said.

The Serbian is coming off a frustrating finish at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Djokovic lost in straight sets in the third round to German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber. But he quickly put that loss behind him against Tomic, hitting 23 winners and breaking Tomic three times.

Djokovic currently shares the all-time Miami title record with American Andre Agassi. The Serbian will next face Argentine Federico Delbonis, who beat 32^nd seed John Millman of Australia 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(2).