Shapovalov Made To Work On Miami Debut

#NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov was made to work hard on Thursday as he made a winning start on his Miami Open presented by Itau debut. The 18-year-old led Viktor Troicki of Serbia 5-1 in the third set and required six match points to wrap up a 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(6) victory in two hours and 27 minutes. He’ll now prepare to meet No. 24 seed Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia & Herzegovina in the second round.

Troicki, who reached the fourth round in 2009 and 2011, lost six first-service points in the first two sets, but Shapovalov regained the momentum by winning four games in a row from 1-1 in the decider. The World No. 46 then failed to convert two match point opportunities at 5-1 and, in a tense end to the third set, Troicki worked his way back – recovering from 0/40 and a further three match points in the 10th game. The pair’s second meeting (2017 Rolex Shanghai Masters) was decided on a tie-break, which saw Shapovalov win the first three points.

Watch Hot Shot: Troicki Strikes Backhand Pass

 Watch Full Match Replays

Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka started his Miami campaign in confident fashion by beating #NextGenATP Australian qualifier Alex de Minaur 6-2, 6-4 in 77 minutes. He will now square-off against tenth-seeded Czech and 2010 finalist Tomas Berdych, who Nishioka beat en route to the 2017 BNP Paribas Open fourth round.

Elsewhere, Spanish wild card Nicola Kuhn recorded his first ATP World Tour match win in a hard-fought 7-6(4), 6-4 victory over Darian King of Barbados in one hour and 42 minutes for a second-round clash against Italian No. 15 seed Fabio Fognini, the Brasil Open titlist in February.