Sousa Beats Returning Goffin In Miami

Portugal’s Joao Sousa recorded the fourth Top 10 victory of his career (4-26 lifetime) on Friday for a place in the Miami Open presented by Itau third round. The 29-year-old required 61 minutes to beat Belgium’s David Goffin, currently No. 9 in the ATP Rankings, 6-0, 6-1.

“I think I played a great match today,” said Sousa. “I was able to play my best tennis from the beginning. For sure, David was not able to play his best tennis today. I know how tough it is coming from an injury that he had a few weeks ago. I’m really happy that I was able to play great tennis. It’s not easy to play against these kinds of players. They are very good. So yeah I’m very happy I can enjoy this victory a lot today.”

Sousa won the last 15 points of the first set against Goffin, who is returning from an eye injury sustained during the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament in February and had won all four of their previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings. Sousa, now one away from 150 victories, will next challenge American Jared Donaldson or No. 25 seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain. Two weeks ago, Sousa beat No. 5-ranked Alexander Zverev en route to the BNP Paribas Open third round.

“It’s great. I’ve been playing very good tennis for the past two weeks. As I say, I played one of my best matches of my career today. Even if David was not very well… I’m enjoying playing tennis a lot. It is great to play against these kinds of guys and try to win, and I was able to do it for the past two weeks. Hopefully, I can keep playing good tennis and keep providing some surprises.”

 Watch Full Match Replays

But Sousa was not the only one to earn a big win Friday. #NextGenATP American Michael Mmoh, a qualifier, had never won a main-draw ATP World Tour Masters 1000-level before arriving in Miami. Yet, despite dropping eight consecutive games after he was up a set and 2-0, Mmoh defeated No. 12 seed Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-4 in two hours, 45 minutes. 

It was Mmoh’s first match against a Top 20 player, and for a moment, it appeared he had lost his opportunity. Bautista Agut ran down two overheads while serving at 4-5 15/30 in the deciding set, and Mmoh missed the third smash long. Instead of holding two match points, it was 30/30. But the 20-year-old, like he did after losing eight games in a row, maintained his focus to earn the best victory of his career. 

Prior to the season, Mmoh had never won an ATP World Tour match. But the American qualified and then triumphed twice at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, including his first Top 50 victory against Mischa Zverev, to advance to the quarter-finals. Mmoh will look to continue his dream run in Miami against reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hyeon Chung or Australian Matthew Ebden. 

Did You Know?
Mmoh had not won an ATP World Tour match prior to the 2018 season. He now has four triumphs, including his first two ATP World Tour Masters 1000-level victories.