Frances Tiafoe withstood a ferocious returning assault from Japan’s Yosuke Watanuki to sneak into the third round of the Miami Open presented by Itau in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Tiafoe needed six match points to see off the swashbuckling 24-year-old World No. 123, who crushed 55 winners (including 28 off the forehand side) and kept the American on his toes by taking huge cuts on returns.

“It was brutal tonight, just one of those nights you try to get over the line,” Tiafoe said. “I was a little frustrated as I had never seen him play and he played very well and was hitting incredibly from the baseline.

“He was playing lights out and I was on the back foot a lot. He played a helluva match tonight, so give respect where respect is due. He was so red hot but I was hoping his level might drop in glimpses and I did a good job of taking advantage when it did.”

A semi-finalist at last week’s BNP Paribas Open, Tiafoe is sitting at a career-high No. 14 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, with the goal of setting a new mark in Miami. He next faces Italian Lorenzo Sonego, who backed up his first-round win over former US Open champion Dominic Thiem with a three-set win over Daniel Evans.

Tiafoe’s countryman Ben Shelton did not enjoy similar success, falling to wily French veteran Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

British 11th seed Cameron Norrie suffered a surprise 6-3, 6-2 defeat to another Frenchman, Gregorie Barrere, who came into Miami having lost first round at the Phoenix Challenger and the BNP Paribas Open.

Talented Canadian Denis Shapovalov has made a slow start to his 2023 season. The lefty owns a 6-6 record entering his third-round match at the Miami Open presented by Itau and has not won consecutive matches since the Australian Open.

But as the 23-year-old has battled adversity, he has kept the big picture in mind.

“I think at the end of the day, first of all if things are not going well, you can have it way worse. I’m fortunate enough to be in the position that I am and trying to be the best possible,” Shapovalov told ATPTour.com. “But it’s just a sport. It’s just a game. Obviously I want to be better and sometimes I’m frustrated on the court. But I think I do a good job of just not carrying it over because we’re very lucky. I’m living a good life.

“I think in general being a person, it’s different. You’re an athlete but at the end of the day you’re a person, so I always try to treat people like I’d want to be treated. I think it’s from my upbringing as well.”

According to Shapovalov, “life in general has been pretty awesome”. Despite losing five of his past seven matches, he has kept things in perspective.

“I think a big part of that is obviously Mirjam [Bjorklund], my girlfriend. First of all we’ve just been able to spend a lot more time together and do fun stuff,” Shapovalov said. “I feel like wherever we are, we always think of fun things to do, things to see and restaurants and stuff like that to go to. I just feel like life is super fun.

“I’m enjoying it a lot, being by her side. I think she’s an amazing person and she makes me very happy. Not much more you can ask for.”

In Miami, Shapovalov enjoyed supporting Bjorklund from the stands as she qualified for the prestigious tournament and advanced to the second round of the main draw. Away from the court, you would not know the Canadian has not had the best start to the season.

“It’s always about manners, it’s honestly about always treating people the way I would want to be treated,” Shapovalov said. “It doesn’t really matter if you’re the best player in the world, the worst player in the world. It’s a separate thing in my opinion than being a person.”

All is not bad on the court, either. The Canadian has achieved plenty in tennis.

Shapovalov has cracked the Top 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, claimed more than $10 million in prize money and earned thousands if not millions of fans around the world with his dynamic, aggressive game.

The 2019 Miami semi-finalist knows that when his game starts clicking, he will again be able to challenge the best players on the ATP Tour.

“One hundred per cent. I think that’s always kind of been my game. I’m going to have ups and downs and that’s just kind of the way it goes when you’re an aggressive player,” Shapovalov said. “I just need to sort of stick to my core values, stick to my game, and know that I’m going to have some good runs and some bad runs.”

Shapovalov will hope Miami marks the start of a good run. The lefty plays No. 1 American Taylor Fritz in the third round.

In what will go down as one of the best comebacks and matches of the year, 2021 Miami Open presented by Itau champion Hubert Hurkacz saved five match points en route to a memorable 6-7(10), 7-6(7), 7-6(6) victory against Thanasi Kokkinakis on Saturday evening.

Hurkacz saved three match points in the second-set tie-break and another two in the final-set tie-break, ultimately finding a way to win after three hours and 31 minutes, marking the longest best-of-three match of the season.

“It’s tough to explain for me. I knew I was playing good tennis, I mean Thanasi [was] as well,” Hurkacz said directly after his win. “I was just trying to stay in there and compete, play some good shots. Either way, if I won or I lost — obviously I wanted to win so, so much — but either way [I] should have been happy with myself.”

The eighth seed saved the first three match points at 4/6, 5/6 and 6/7 in the second-set tie-break. On the first of those points, Kokkinakis jammed himself on a forehand volley right on top of the net, then missed forehands on the next two.

But perhaps the most jaw-dropping match point save came when the Australian served at 6/4 in the final-set tie-break. After missing his first serve, Kokkinakis delivered a slice second serve into the body and Hurkacz responded by deflecting the pace up the line for a return winner. The disbelief was clear on Kokkinakis’ face.

“Just felt he was going to go for another one,” Hurkacz said, recalling an earlier second-serve ace from the Australian.

Hurkacz hit an ace to save the fifth match point he faced. The Pole wasted no time closing out the gripping encounter on his first opportunity, playing stunning defence to force an error out of Kokkinakis.

“Stealing a couple of points puts a little bit more pressure on the opponent and then sometimes the opponent tries to go for a bit extra and [with] that bit extra, you can miss that shot,” Hurkacz said. “I was trying to make an effort to compete for every single ball and put some pressure.”

It was a thrilling atmosphere on Grandstand, where Kokkinakis rallied the crowd to his side and earlier saved six set points in the first-set tie-break, which he won.

There was just one service break per player, with Hurkacz hitting 21 aces and Kokkinakis 23. The previous longest best-of-three matches in 2023 lasted three hours and 26 minutes. Tommy Paul defeated Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-6(2) in the Acapulco semi-finals and Bernabe Zapata Miralles beat Roberto Carballes Baena 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-5 in the Cordoba first round.

Kevin Krawietz and Fabrice Martin first competed together at an ITF World Tennis Tour event in 2014. On Saturday, nine years later, they earned their biggest win as a pair.

The German-French duo upset sixth seeds and last week’s Indian Wells champions Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 7-5, 4-6, 10-4 to reach the second round of the Miami Open presented by Itau.

Krawietz and Martin won a match at both the BNP Paribas Open and the Phoenix ATP Challenger Tour event the past two weeks before losing in the second round. They will try to buck that trend against Dutchmen Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop.

There was another upset when Jamie Murray and Michael Venus beat fourth seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-4, 7-6(10). The Indian Wells quarter-finalists saved four of the five break points they faced to advance.

In other action, Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin maintained their good form with a 7-6(4), 7-6(3) victory over seventh seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos. The reigning Marseille champions and Indian Wells semi-finalists are now 12-6 on the season.

Fifth seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara ousted Maxime Cressy and Andreas Mies 6-3, 6-1. Cressy and Mies surged to a 3-0 lead before the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals competitors rallied to claim 12 of the final 13 games.

Daniil Medvedev has wasted little time returning to his winning ways, breezing past Roberto Carballes Baena in the second round of the Miami Open presented by Itau Saturday night.

In his first match since his 19-match winning streak was snapped by Carlos Alcaraz in last Sunday’s BNP Paribas Open final, the former World No. 1 enjoyed the faster conditions inside Hard Rock Stadium as he sprinted to a 6-1, 6-2 victory.

The 2021 US Open champion hit 18 winners to his opponent’s five. Medvedev also had success with the drop shot, perhaps taking a cue from his Indian Wells conqueror, Carlos Alcaraz.

“After my match with Carlos I thought I needed to use that shot more,” Medvedev joked. “I’ve always liked drop shots but it’s not a weapon in my game that I’m going to use 50 times a match. You need to have confidence in the shot and today it worked pretty well.”

The World No. 5 next faces World No. 56 Slovakian Alex Molcan, who defeated Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-2.

Medvedev won three consecutive titles in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai and last week reached his first final in Indian Wells.

The third-round action begins on Sunday at the Miami Open presented by Itau, where Carlos Alcaraz, Casper Ruud and Taylor Fritz continue their title quests at the second ATP Masters 1000 of the year.

Andrey Rublev, Holger Rune and Jannik Sinner are also in action on a day when seeded stars clash for the first time at this year’s event. ATPTour.com looks at some of the key third-round matchups on show in south Florida.

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[1] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) vs. Dusan Lajovic (SRB)

Carlos Alcaraz got his Miami title defence up and running with a comfortable straight-sets victory against Facundo Bagnis, dropping just two games to improve to 15-1 on the season. Playing with fearless aggression and fresh off his title run in Indian Wells, the 19-year-old Spaniard will look to extend his winning run to eight matches when he meets Dusan Lajovic.

“I try not to think about [being] the defending champion,” said Alcaraz when asked if he feels the pressure of defending his title. “I’m trying not to think about [that] I won last year. I always say the same when I come into a tournament: for me it is a new tournament. It’s day by day, round by round. I try to play my best every day, try to enjoy every match.”

The top seed, who will remain as No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings if he lifts his fourth ATP Masters 1000 trophy at Hard Rock Stadium, leads Lajovic 3-0 in their ATP Head2Head series. The Serbian enters the match in form, however, having defeated former World No. 1 Andy Murray and American Maxime Cressy in straight sets this week.

Alcaraz’s variety could be key in breaking down Lajovic’s baseline resistance. The Spaniard will look to deploy his drop shot, which was so effective in his victory against Daniil Medvedev in the Indian Wells championship match, to complement his baseline firepower against the Serbian.

[9] Taylor Fritz (USA) vs. [24] Denis Shapovalov (CAN)

Fritz’s Indian Wells title defence was ended by Jannik Sinner at the quarter-final stage, but the American has quickly put that behind him. He produced a dominant performance against Emilo Nava on Friday to reach the third round in Miami for the third consecutive year, improving to 18-4 on the season.

After dropping from No. 5 to No. 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings following Indian Wells, the 25-year-old is on a mission to climb again this week. Depending on results, a title run could lift him back to No. 6. For now, the focus will be on 24th seed Denis Shapovalov, who will prove a tough test.

The Canadian leads Fritz 5-3 in their ATP Head2Head series, but the American won their most recent clash in Acapulco in February. Fans should be treated to an explosive battle on court in Miami, with the pair possessing thunderous serves and destructive forehands. Shapovalov is looking to kick start his season in Miami, with his best result before this week a run to the quarter-finals in Adelaide.

[3] Casper Ruud (NOR) vs. [26] Botic van de Zandschulp (NED)

Having reached the final in Miami last year, Ruud will be hoping the hard-court ATP Masters 1000 event can provide the setting for an upturn in form. The Norwegian arrived in south Florida off the back of a disappointing third-round exit in Indian Wells, but breezed past Ilya Ivashka in his opening match in Miami to improve to 5-5 on the year.

“I want to believe one match will turn it around but there are still a lot of matches to be played with a lot of good players left in the tournament,” Ruud said. “It’s been almost two weeks since I’ve played a match after taking an early loss in Indian Wells. I worked hard and came into Miami with great memories from last year.”

The World No. 4 will face a sterner test in the form of Botic van de Zandschulp on Sunday. The 26th seed hit through Ruud to earn victory in two of their three previous meetings and looks to have adjusted to the conditions in Miami. The Dutchman, who is making his second appearance at the tournament, overcame Alexei Popyrin 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 to earn his maiden win at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

Ruud produced a clean performance against Ivashka, hitting 21 winners to 13 unforced errors, and he will need to find a similar level if he is to win two matches at the same event for the first time this season.

Also In Action…

In one of the popcorn third-round matches, Sinner and Grigor Dimitrov will face off for the second time. Sinner reached the semi-finals in Indian Wells last week and cruised past Laslo Djere in his opening match in Miami. The 10th-seeded Italian holds fond memories of Hard Rock Stadium, having reached the final there in 2021. Dimitrov, who won the pair’s only previous meeting in Rome in 2020, is aiming to reach the fourth round in Miami for just the third time in 12 appearances.

Chasing his first title of the season and maiden ATP Masters 1000 crown, sixth seed Andrey Rublev continues his quest against last year’s quarter-finalist Miomir Kecmanovic. Seventh seed Holger Rune takes on 31st seed Diego Schwartzman, and the in-form Tommy Paul plays Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

Back at his career-high No. 6 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Felix Auger-Aliassime needed every ounce of his Top 10 experience to overcome the spirited Thiago Monteiro on Saturday at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

The Canadian prevailed 7-6(5), 7-6(8) to down the Brazilian World No. 81 in a match that featured no breaks of serve. Auger-Aliassime let slip four match points in a dramatic second-set tie-break, but Monteiro pushed a volley wide on his fifth as the 22-year-old wrapped a hard-earned two-hour, 41-minute triumph in front of a raucous Grandstand crowd.

“After the first set, I felt a little bit better,” said Auger-Aliassime after his win. “I was giving myself chances… He came up with some good serves and great shots every time, so [I just had to] keep driving, keep trying, keep moving forward and keep staying positive. I think that was the key today, to just stay strong mentally.”

Auger-Aliassime has reached at least the quarter-finals in the past six ATP Masters 1000 events. Whether he can turn that consistency into a first title win at that level will likely depend on his ability to raise his game at key moments, and he was certainly forced to show plenty of mettle to pull through against a fired-up Monteiro.

The Brazilian saved two set points at 4-5 in the opening set, but he could do nothing to stop Auger-Aliassime in the tie-break. The Canadian earned a crucial mini-break for 4/3 with a fizzing backhand winner to move ahead.

Despite that setback, Monteiro again refused to lie down in the second set. The 28-year-old lefty saved all three break points he faced to force another tie-break, which proved to be the highlight of an intriguing encounter. It was Auger-Aliassime’s power, and particularly his huge serve, which proved crucial for his win in blustery conditions.

“I was serving pretty good,” said Auger-Aliassime. “Unfortunately I couldn’t close it out at 6/4 [in the second-set tie-break] with a double fault but honestly, throughout the match, I felt good. Considering the conditions too. It was super windy, so to serve like this, on the big points, that was key today.”

The fifth seed won 86 per cent (37/43) of points behind his first delivery and sent down 12 aces to improve his ATP Head2Head record against Monteiro to 3-0. He will next take on another South American, Francisco Cerundolo, who downed American lucky loser Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4, 6-4.

That will be a rematch of the pair’s Indian Wells third-round clash 12 days ago, when the Canadian defeated Cerundolo in straight sets. Auger-Aliassime will be particularly wary of the 25th seed in Miami, however — Cerundolo reached his maiden Masters 1000 semi-final there in 2022.

Last year’s semi-finalist is back at it again @MiamiOpen!@FranCerundolo bringing the Forehand #ShotQuality & winners, from all over the court ⚔️

Sets up a potential Indian Wells rematch against Auger-Aliassime, if the Canadian can get the better of Monteiro#TennisInsights |… pic.twitter.com/uCxZVN7Ict

— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) March 25, 2023

Harri Heliovaara is one of the best doubles players in the world. The Finnish star is also a member of the ATP Player Advisory Council, elected by his peers to represent players from No. 1-75 in the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings.

On Monday, the Player Advisory Council met in Florida ahead of the Miami Open presented by Itau. ATPTour.com spoke to Heliovaara, who is in his first term as a council member, about his experience so far, what was discussed in the meeting and why he feels his position is a “big role”.

What was your takeaway from the Miami Player Advisory Council meeting?
This was my first meeting because I missed the first one in Melbourne. I was still playing in Adelaide exactly at the same time as the meeting was, so this was my first time actually seeing [what it is like].

What was the experience like?
It was cool. My whole background is such that I’ve been in the business life for a couple of years. I didn’t play tennis for five years, so the setting is somehow familiar. You have a meeting room with a lot of people, someone on Zoom and everybody gathered around a table. It’s a nice situation we had.

We had a lot of experienced guys — not in the Player Advisory Council — but the player representatives and the board and the people from the ATP. There were more people than I expected, but [there were] very good discussions, [I am] learning a lot.

^{Photo Credit: Andrew Eichenholz/ATP Tour}
What would you say the biggest themes from this particular meeting were?
We had Andrea [Gaudenzi], the chairman, presenting us the [OneVision] strategy, Phase Two of the strategy. I think that was important for everybody in the council to understand and also to get to know him a little bit better.

We had of course a couple of decisions to make, but they were a little bit smaller this time, mostly about how they allocate prize money among the players. It was more interesting to hear about the ATP in general.

What do you think of OneVision?
I like it. I like it a lot. I think we as the ATP and tennis as a sport, we need to think big and that’s what we are doing in the OneVision strategy. I’m very interested in that kind of thing. My major in my Masters studies was strategy and venturing, so it’s really close to my heart, everything with strategy. Looking forward to how it goes.

How important do you feel your role is, representing the players, the members?
It’s a big role. I think it’s an honour to be there elected by the other players. I know that Jarkko Nieminen, who was the best player from Finland, he was part of the council for several years and I look up to him and hope to do something good for tennis while I’m here. Help the players, help the sport, help the ATP.

My role of course [is that] I’m there as a doubles player. I want to help other doubles players, but that’s not the only thing I’m focused on. It has to be the bigger picture.

Dusan Lajovic has spent time in two special places this year: Middle Earth and Planet Alcaraz. On Sunday, the Serbian will try to invoke the spirit of the former to conquer the latter when he faces World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in the third round of the Miami Open presented by Itau.

Lord of the Rings fan Lajovic has lost all three of his previous ATP Head2Head meetings with Alcaraz, but he is excited to give it another shot against the defending champion inside Hard Rock Stadium.

“I think the unique thing is how much he loves the pressure points. He’s got a great forehand, great backhand, great drop shot. He feels the game really good. He’s got really good instincts,” Lajovic told ATPTour.com. “But this is what I feel like is separating him from the rest of the other guys that are up and coming.

“I can’t compare him to Novak, Rafa and Roger obviously. But from the rest of the guys, he just plays his best tennis when it’s most needed.”

Lajovic has learned that through firsthand experience. At this year’s Rio Open presented by Claro, the Serbian led the 19-year-old in the first and second sets. He even earned a set point in the second set, but Alcaraz ultimately prevailed 6-4, 7-6(0).

“Obviously he loves these kind of matches, he loves to play under the pressure and I think that’s when he thrives the most,” Lajovic said. “I think he enjoys the atmosphere when he needs to produce his best tennis in these kind of situations.”

On Alcaraz’s maturity, Lajovic added: “You just don’t see it on his face. I think that he’s 19 in age only. How mature he is, it’s way more than 19.”

Two of Lajovic’s five tour-level losses this season have come to Alcaraz. The 32-year-old has enjoyed a quick start to the year, with three consecutive quarter-final appearances on South American clay.

The year got off to a good start off court, too. During his trip to New Zealand for the ASB Classic, Lajovic visited Hobbiton, a famous movie set used for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

“That was an incredible experience. I’m a big fan. I’m a huge fan of epic fantasy, of science fiction, of anything literally that is out of this world. I felt like I was in heaven there,” Lajovic said. “I read some of Tolkien’s books, I read The Hobbit. I’ve seen the TV show, even if it didn’t have great reviews. I’ve seen all the movies. I just enjoyed that day so much.

“I’m also a big Harry Potter fan. I read all the books like five times each book. That’s pretty geeky!”

 

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Lajovic recalled reading the Harry Potter series in his late teens, but he began Tolkien’s stories more recently, within the past decade. He watches The Lord of the Rings movies once a year.

“These kind of books, they have an arc that generally can have a parallel with life. The main guy is sort of in trouble and then he finds a way. They always have people who are close to him who helps him when he’s in need. Eventually everything works out,” Lajovic said. “In life, you can’t really hope that everything works out, you’ve got to work for it. But I like that kind of story that develops over the period of five, six books.

“You can relate to so many things even if it’s something that’s not real. But the feelings, the emotions are real and the situations that they provide are similar to what we experience in life without the magic.”

Lajovic, who visited Hobbiton with Croatians Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, is also a video game fan.

“I’m following the CounterStrike E-sports scene a lot. A good friend of mine is one of the best players in the world, so it’s something that is my hobby. Especially this trip to Hobbiton, to Middle Earth, was unreal,” Lajovic said. “What Peter Jackson did, how he took care of every detail, is just fascinating. I spent like four hours I think. The tour is a little bit less with spending some time at the restaurant. But I can spend days there if they allowed me to.”

Although Miami is more than 13,000 kilometres from New Zealand, he will bring the spirit of Tolkien’s world with him to the court inside Hard Rock Stadium when he tries to upset Alcaraz.

“I’ve had some tough draws because I’ve played him in South America and again here,” Lajovic said. “So I’m just looking forward to that match, trying to enjoy and seeing if I can change some things from the past two matches.”