March Madness is reaching a fever pitch as both the men’s and women’s NCAA Division I basketball tournaments are down to the Final Four. And the NBA playoffs are just around the corner in April.

You can be sure that Frances Tiafoe will be watching it all. The man with the biggest NBA jersey collection on the ATP Tour joined us to talk basketball — one of his biggest passions outside of tennis.

The Maryland native is often in the crowd at Washington Wizards games, but he’s recently started getting on the court with assistant coach Alex McLean. Tiafoe uses their workouts for cross-training and plans to step up the intensity when he gets back home after the Miami Open, with a particular focus on ball-handling.

“I’m trying to get my handle right,” he said. “I want to do a lot of handle work, and I use that for my fitness. When I get back, we’re going to really grind.”

^{Photo Credit: Peter Staples/ATP Tour}

When it comes to the NBA, Tiafoe counts LeBron James, Ja Morant, DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo among his favourite players to watch.

The last time he was in the building for a game was just before Indian Wells. Taking advantage of his time in Southern California, Tiafoe was able to watch James score 56 points to lead the Lakers to a home win against the Golden State Warriors.

His prediction for the NBA Finals: The Phoenix Suns complete unfinished business by beating the Philadelphia 76ers, one year after falling just short in the 2021 Finals.

We also asked Tiafoe to pick his ideal starting five from the ATP Tour: “I’d take Reilly [Opelka] as a big. Nick [Kyrgios] can play, [Thanasi] Kokkinakis probably on the wing. Gael [Monfils] probably the four,” he said, pausing to consider his final selection. “Then Tommy Paul. He’s got a decent jumper.”

You might have noticed one glaring omission from that squad — Tiafoe himself.

“I need work,” he said with a laugh. “I’m more of a spot-up, open shooter. My handles need work. But if I’m open, I’m knocking it down.”

For the second straight match, Jannik Sinner saved multiple match points to advance at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

After saving three against Emil Ruusuvuoiri in his opening match, the 20-year-old followed that up by erasing five against Pablo Carreno Busta in a 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 win.

A Miami finalist in 2021, the Italian was fighting from behind from the start of the match on Court Butch Buchholz and staved off his first match point on serve at 5-4 in the second. From Ad-out, he won 11 straight points to force a third. He was in even bigger trouble in the decider, falling behind by a break before breaking at love to prevent Carreno Busta from serving it out.

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That set the stage for an epic five-deuce service game that lasted more than 11 minutes and saw Sinner shake off four more match points. He did so with a flourish, gaining more and more crowd support by the minute with his fearless play. Staying aggressive with his back against the wall, the Italian hit two forehand winners — one off the ground and another with a volley — and drew two errors to stay alive.

Back level, Sinner turned the tables by pressuring the 17th seed’s serve and breaking to edge in front, much to the delight of the Miami crowd. In a three-hour, 11-minute contest, the point of the match may have come in the final game. Sinner showed his athleticism to return a dribbler off the net cord, then guessed right to stab a volley at Carreno Busta’s feet, drawing an error 

He needed two match points of his own to seal the deal, booking his place in the last 16 with a forehand winner as he improved his record in deciding sets to 5-0 on the season. 

Sinner sets up a marquee matchup against the red-hot Nick Kyrgios, who stormed past Andrey Rublev and Fabio Fognini to reach the fourth round without dropping a set.  Sinner and Kyrgios were set to face off at the same stage at Indian Wells earlier this month, but the Italian withdrew due to illness.

Their Miami matchup will be the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting. By beating Carreno Busta, Sinner levelled their head-to-head record at 1-1.

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The third round reaches its conclusion at the Miami Open presented by Itau on Monday, as #NextGenATP Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz takes on 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic. Stefanos Tsitsipas aims to maintain his unbeaten record against Alex de Minaur, while Daniil Medvedev takes on Pedro Martinez seeking to move a step closer to both a first Miami title and a return to World No. 1.

[14] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) vs. [21] Marin Cilic (CRO)

Carlos Alcaraz completed another first in his young career by beating Marton Fucsovics in the second round to notch his maiden match win in Miami, but the 18-year-old will hope that is just the beginning of another fairytale run as he prepares to do battle with 21st seed Marin Cilic in the third round.

Alcaraz has started 2022 in red-hot form. He picked up his maiden ATP 500 title on the Rio clay in February and surged to the semi-finals in Indian Wells without dropping a set before being edged out by Rafael Nadal.

Confidence is high for the Spaniard, but Cilic is an experienced campaigner who possesses enough weapons to hurt any opponent on Tour. The former World No. 3 also knows what it takes to go all the way at ATP Masters 1000 level, having triumphed at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati in 2016.

The Croatian came out on top in his only previous meeting with Alcaraz in Estoril last year and is seeking to reach the fourth round in Miami for the fifth time. Whether his experience will be enough to derail the youthful Alcaraz once again remains to be seen.

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[3] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs. [25] Alex de Minaur (AUS)

Whoever comes out on top in the Alcaraz-Cilic clash will face a fourth-round meeting with Stefanos Tsitsipas or Alex de Minaur. Tsitsipas had no time to ease himself in at Hard Rock Stadium this week as he was immediately plunged into a three-set battle with American qualifier J.J. Wolf in his opening match, but the third seed survived as he hunts his first title of 2022 in south Florida.

The history books heavily favour the Greek in his third-round clash with de Minaur. Tsitsipas holds a 7-0 ATP Head2Head series lead over the 25th seed, but will take nothing for granted against a player renowned for leaving everything out on court.

“He’s a fighter,” said Tsitsipas of de Minaur after his victory over Wolf on Saturday. “I really hope to bring out the same kind of level that I brought in the third set and maintain that throughout the match.”

De Minaur enjoyed a comfortable straight-sets win over fellow Aussie Jordan Thompson in the second round, his maiden main-draw win in Miami. Tsitsipas’ 2021 run to the quarter-finals is his best effort so far as the third seed seeks a second Masters 1000 title.

[1] Daniil Medvedev vs. Pedro Martinez (ESP)

Three opponents stand between Daniil Medvedev and a return to the top of the ATP Rankings. The 2021 US Open champion knows reaching the semi-finals in Miami will be enough to get back to No. 1 after two weeks away, and his third-round assignment is a matchup with Spaniard Pedro Martinez.

Despite the prospect of returning to top spot looming large, Medvedev certainly looked focused in his second-round victory over Andy Murray. The top seed was relieved to get through a tough opening draw and admitted it had got his competitive juices flowing after plenty of time on the practice court since his third-round exit at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

“It’s never easy, first-round matches, even if you practise on the same courts for one or two months, it’s never going to be the same as a competitive tournament match,” he said after the win over Murray. “I’m happy that I managed to have zero break points against me. I feel like I have some room for improvement, but it was a great match against an amazing player.”

His opponent Martinez propelled himself into the Top 50 for the fast time with his maiden ATP Tour title in Santiago in February. He beat 27th seed Cristian Garin on Saturday to reach the third round of a hard-court Masters 1000 event for the first time, but the pair’s only previous meeting at the 2020 Australian Open ended in a straight-sets victory for Medvedev.

Defending Champ Hurkacz In Action, Fritz Leads American Charge

Hubert Hurkacz showed no sign of nerves on his return to Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday, a year after clinching the biggest title of his career at the 2021 tournament in Miami.

The Pole took out big-serving Arthur Rinderknech in straight sets in his second-round match and now faces another player with plenty of weapons in 29th seed Aslan Karatsev. The pair is tied with a 1-1 ATP Head2Head series record, and Hurkacz’s title defence could come under serious threat if three-time ATP Tour titlist Karatsev can find his best level.

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A host of talented young Americans are also in third-round action on Monday, headlined by the clash between Indian Wells champion Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.

Fritz produced a solid opening match against Mikhail Kukushkin and is looking forward to taking on World No. 37 Paul despite the pair enjoying a close friendship off-court. “It’s never easy playing one of your best friends,” said Fritz after his second-round win. “But in the past, I have done well when playing my friends. It’s going to be a really tough match because he’s playing well.”

Fritz and Paul’s ATP Head2Head series is tied at 1-1, with both previous tour-level meetings taking place in 2021.

After surging to the quarter-finals on Miami debut in 2021 and breezing through this year’s opening match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Sebastian Korda had to put in the hard yards to overcome Albert-Ramos-Vinolas in three sets in the second-round. The #NextGenATP star takes on Miomir Kecmanovic, the two-time Indian Wells quarter-finalist now chasing a first fourth-round appearance in Miami, in the pair’s first tour-level meeting.

Jenson Brooksby rounds out the Americans in action on day six as he faces 15th seed Roberto Bautista Agut for the first time, while South Africa’s Lloyd Harris will look to back up his second-round upset of 12th seed Denis Shapovalov when he takes on Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.

ORDER OF PLAY – MONDAY, MARCH 28, 2022

STADIUM start 12:00 noon
ATP – [1] D. Medvedev vs P. Martinez (ESP)

Not Before 1:00 PM
WTA – A. Riske (USA) vs N. Osaka (JPN)
WTA – [14] C. Gauff (USA) vs M. Brengle (USA) or I. Swiatek (POL)

Not Before 7:00 pm
ATP – [3] S. Tsitsipas (GRE) vs [25] A. de Minaur (AUS)

Not Before 9:00 PM
WTA – [5] P. Badosa (ESP) vs [WC] L. Fruhvirtova (CZE)

GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
WTA – [9] D. Collins (USA) vs [8] O. Jabeur (TUN)
ATP – [29] A. Karatsev vs [8] H. Hurkacz (POL)
ATP – [21] M. Cilic (CRO) vs [14] C. Alcaraz (ESP)
ATP – [11] T. Fritz (USA) vs T. Paul (USA)

Not Before 7:00 PM
WTA – L. Davis (USA) or P. Kvitova (CZE) vs [21] V. Kudermetova

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ start 11:00 am
WTA – [WC] D. Saville (AUS) vs [LL] L. Bronzetti (ITA)
ATP – L. Harris (RSA) vs [Q] Y. Nishioka (JPN)
WTA – A. Sasnovich vs [22] B. Bencic (SUI)
ATP – S. Korda (USA) vs M. Kecmanovic (SRB)
WTA – [16] J. Pegula (USA) vs A. Kalinina (UKR)

COURT 1 start 11:00 am
ATP – J. Brooksby (USA) vs [15] R. Bautista Agut (ESP)
ATP – S. Bolelli (ITA) / F. Fognini (ITA) vs I. Dodig (CRO) / M. Melo (BRA)

Not Before 3:00 pm
ATP – T. Brkic (BIH) / N. Cacic (SRB) or [Alt] M. Cilic (CRO) / L. Kubot (POL) vs [3] M. Granollers (ESP) / H. Zeballos (ARG)

COURT 7 start 11:00 am
WTA – [7] D. Krawczyk (USA) / D. Schuurs (NED) vs [DA SR] K. Flipkens (BEL) / S. Mirza (IND)
WTA – [6] G. Dabrowski (CAN) / G. Olmos (MEX) vs [DA SR] L. Siegemund (GER) / V. Zvonareva
WTA – A. Rosolska (POL) / E. Routliffe (NZL) vs A. Muhammad (USA) / E. Shibahara (JPN)

After Suitable Rest
WTA – [4] C. Gauff (USA) / C. McNally (USA) vs A. Guarachi (CHI) / Y. Xu (CHN)

For his third straight match, Stefanos Tsitsipas went three sets against an unseeded American at an ATP Masters 1000 event. After beating Jack Sock and losing to Jenson Brooksby in Indian Wells, the Greek was victorious against J.J. Wolf on Saturday at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

In a 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1 win, Tsitsipas faced a much tougher test than he did one month ago in Acapulco, when he dropped just one game against the Ohio State product.

“Always expect him to play the match of his life. He had nothing to lose,” Tsitsipas said of his mindset entering his Miami opener. “I very much know how to handle situations like this, speaking from experience. It kind of worked in the third set. I think letting go and relaxing a bit helped me a lot and gave me that win.”

Both men flashed inventive shotmaking in a gripping encounter in Hard Rock Stadium, with a hard-fought second set providing the picks of the bunch. Tsitsipas improvised a forehand slice with his hand on his racquet’s throat, then followed it up with a backhand pass. Soon after, Wolf one-upped that effort with a lefty forehand winner on the dead run as the second set came to a boil.

When the two 23-year-olds were not filling up the highlight reel, the match was all about first-strike tennis, with each man looking to attack with the forehand and finish points at the net. But for all the baseline brilliance, the serve proved the dominant shot for much of the night.

After struggling to make returns early, Tsitsipas converted on the first break point of the match to pocket the opening set. Wolf countered with an immediate break to open the second and later found two big serves to bring up set point in the tie-break. After captivating the Miami crowd with his upset effort, the American brought his supporters to fever pitch as he forced a decider.

The final set was all Tsitsipas, as the third seed began to dictate in all phases of play. The Greek broke in each of his four return games in the stanza, giving him six total breaks in the two-hour match. He finished with 37 winners, including 20 off the forehand, compared to 20 errors.

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He will next face 25th seed Alex de Minaur, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over fellow Aussie Jordan Thompson.

“He’s a fighter,” Tsitsipas said of de Minaur, against whom he holds a 7-0 ATP Head2Head advantage. “I really hope to bring out the same kind of level that I brought in the third set, and maintain that throughout the match.”

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The Miami Open presented by Itau reaches its third-round stage on Sunday, with 2021 finalist Jannik Sinner and second seed Alexander Zverev seeking simpler paths after battling opening wins. Nick Kyrgios has had no such issues in Miami so far and faces Fabio Fognini in an intriguing battle of two ATP Tour showmen, while Casper Ruud, Cameron Norrie and Gael Monfils are also chasing a spot in the last 16 at Hard Rock Stadium.

[9] Jannik Sinner vs. [17] Pablo Carreno Busta

It may have had a bumpy start, but Jannik Sinner’s Miami campaign is up and running.

The 20-year-old Italian hit a significant milestone in south Florida in 2021, reaching a maiden ATP Masters 1000 championship match before falling to Hubert Hurkacz. Sinner enjoyed a less-than-welcoming return to Hard Rock Stadium on Friday as Emil Ruusuvuori pushed him to a deciding set tie-break, but despite that struggle the World No. 11 is feeling optimistic as he prepares for his third-round clash with Pablo Carreno Busta on Sunday.

“It gives [me] a lot of confidence for sure, but there are some things [that] I have to work on,” said Sinner after Friday’s match. “There are positive things, but also I have some things to improve. I think mentally I was strong today, but tennis-wise there are some things to improve.”

The ninth seed will certainly need to find his level to overcome Carreno Busta, the World No. 19 who won the pair’s only previous meeting in Rotterdam in 2020. The Spaniard also knows how to forge a deep run in south Florida, reaching the semi-finals when he last played the tournament in 2018.

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[WC] Nick Kyrgios vs. [31] Fabio Fognini

Sinner or Carreno Busta’s fourth-round opponent will be decided in a meeting between two of the ATP Tour’s greatest showmen, Nick Kyrgios and Fabio Fognini.

When Kyrgios’ game clicks things tend to happen quickly, no matter who is standing on the other side of the net. The Australian produced one of the performances of the season in the second round to cruise past fifth seed Andrey Rublev, who came into the clash with an 18-3 record in 2022, in just 52 minutes.

“I’ve been returning well the past four months,” said Kyrgios after securing victory for the loss of just three games. “And I guess when that’s happening, I’m serving the way I’m serving, I’m feeling the way I’m feeling, my shoulders open up and I just ran with it.”

Kyrgios faces an opponent on Sunday who is just as capable of such destructive match-winning spells. World No. 34 Fognini has an 11-9 match record in Miami but was a semi-finalist in 2017 and showed he is willing to dig deep in his three-set win over Taro Daniel in the second round on Friday. Kyrgios and Fognini’s only previous meeting came in 2018, also in the third-round in Miami, the Australian running out a 6-3, 6-3 winner.

[2] Alexander Zverev (GER) vs. Mackenzie McDonald (USA)

Alexander Zverev is chasing his first title of the year in Miami and will hope his battling three-set win over Borna Coric on Friday is the catalyst for something special as he prepares to prepares to face World No. 54 Mackenzie McDonald in the third round.

The German suffered a deciding tie-break loss to Jenson Brooksby at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and, perhaps with that defeat in mind, felt that the nature of his win over Coric was as important as the result itself.

“I needed a win,” said Zverev after beating the Croatian 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. “I needed a three-set win as well. Obviously, when you’re up a set, you don’t want to go three sets, and yet I’m happy with how everything went.”

Zverev holds a 2-0 ATP Head2Head series lead over McDonald, including a straight-sets win in Montpellier in February, but the American is enjoying his best run in Miami after upsetting 26th seed Grigor Dimitrov in the second round.

Waiting in the fourth round for Zverev or McDonald will be Thanasi Kokkinakis or Denis Kudla. Kokkinakis saved match point with a stunning backhand pass before completing a comeback win against Diego Schwartzman in the second round, and the Australian will hope for more moments of magic as he seeks a first win over the American qualifier. Kudla is flying high after beating Juncheng Shang and Lorenzo Sonego to reach the third round of a Masters 1000 event for the second time, however, and he has topped Kokkinakis in both of the pair’s previous meetings.

Ruud, Norrie, Monfils Chase Fourth-Round Spot

Sixth seed Casper Ruud will seek to maintain his perfect Masters 1000 record against Alexander Bublik. Ruud beat the Kazakh at both the Mutua Madrid Open and the Rolex Paris Masters in 2021 and stormed through his second-round clash against Henri Laaksonen on Friday for the loss of just three games. Bublik edged the pair’s most recent meeting, however, with a three-set win in the Davis Cup qualifiers in March.

Ruud and Bublik’s potential fourth-round opponents are 10th seed Cameron Norrie and Hugo Gaston. Both carry momentum into their first ATP Head2Head meeting, with Norrie staying strong to oust emerging talent Jack Draper to reach the third round for the second year in a row.

Gaston breezed past wild card Emilio Nava for the loss of just three games to start his campaign and then upset another American, 2018 champion John Isner, in the second round. The Frenchman is making his first third-round appearance in Miami but has recent pedigree at Masters 1000 level, having beaten Carreno Busta and Carlos Alcaraz on his way to the quarter-finals of the Rolex Paris Masters in November.

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It’s been a memorable week in Miami so far for Argentine brothers Francisco Cerundolo and Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who have both reached the third round on debut at Hard Rock Stadium and will face each other in the last 16 if they win their respective matches on Sunday.

That will be a tough ask. 23-year-old Francisco faces 22nd seed Gael Monfils, whose second-round win over Oscar Otte was his first match in Miami since he reached the quarter-finals in 2016. Meanwhile 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals competitor Juan Manuel takes on home favourite Frances Tiafoe. Victory for the 28th-seeded American would make it four consecutive fourth-round appearances in Miami.

In the doubles, top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic continue their campaign with a second-round clash against Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov. The Croatian pairing started its title defence in style by beating Nikoloz Basilashvili and Laslo Djere in straight sets in the first round.