Defending Miami Open champion Daniil Medvedev and top seed Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday marched into the quarter-finals of the tournament with convincing victories.
Medvedev earned a 7-6 (7/5), 6-0 win over Germany’s Dominik Koepfer, while Alcaraz took care of Italian Lorenzo Musetti with a 6-3, 6-3 win in 85 minutes.
Second seed Jannik Sinner of Italy also moved into the last eight, beating Christopher O’Connell of Australia 6-4, 6-3.
Photo: AFP
Alcaraz, who is searching for the “Sunshine Double” after winning in Indian Wells, was too much for 23rd seed Musetti, although the Italian certainly contributed to a crowd-pleasing contest.
Stadium court erupted after a rally in the third game of the second set saw Musetti clip the ball between his legs, lobbing Alcaraz, but the Spaniard returned it with a “tweener” only to lose the point to a deft volley at the net.
Yet it was an overall comfortable match for Alcarez, whose all-round game looks in strong shape.
Photo: Geoff Burke-USA Today
“I don’t know if this is the best game I’ve played, but without a doubt it is the best feeling. I feel great on the court, I’m moving great, I am not injured and not thinking about my ankle anymore ... it’s the best feeling since the summer,” Alcarez said.
In the quarters, Alcaraz is to face Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Pole Hubert Hurkacz, triumphing in a third set tie-break for a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) win.
Medvedev made an unusually sloppy start on Stadium court, with a series of unforced errors, and found himself trailing 4-0 in the first set tie-break.
However, having overturned that deficit, he went on to win all the remaining games as he showed that, despite his concerns over the rapid deterioration of balls on the hard court surface, he is comfortable with the conditions.
The Russian suggested that Koepfer had struggled to recover from the blow of seeing his tie-break lead vanish.
“I think sometimes it happens, when you lose the first set the way he lost it. He played very good, probably was closer to winning it because of the 4/0 in the tie-break, and when you lose such a set, especially when the points were tough, it brings your energy down,” he said.
The world No. 4, Medvedev is to face Chilean Nicolas Jarry who upset Norwegian seventh seed Casper Ruud 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
In the women’s singles, three-time Miami Open winner Victoria Azarenka battled for nearly three hours to get past a determined Yulia Putintseva and take her place in the semi-finals with a 7-6 (7/4), 1-6, 6-3 win.
Thirty-four-year-old Azarenka, who won in Miami in 2009, 2011 and 2016, had to deal not only with the spirited display from the Moscow-born Kazakh player, but also a long disruption to the match due to a technical problem.
The match was stopped for 45 minutes in the fourth game of the first set due to a power outage which impacted the umpire’s communications and the hawkeye system.
“Yulia played great, she’s in such great form and I really had to dig deep. I felt like my legs were kind of giving in a little bit and I lost a little bit of self-belief because she was playing so well and moving me around everywhere,” Azarenka said. “But I’m happy that I was able to regroup, reset and really take my chances, come out and play aggressive and face the challenge.”
Belarusian Azarenka is to face Fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina for a place in the final.
Rybakina, the highest seeded player left in the tournament, held off a strong challenge from eighth-seed Maria Sakkari of Greece before emerging with a 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4 win.
In the women’s doubles quarter-finals, world No. 1 Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium were surprised by the US’ Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin, losing 1-6, 6-4, 11-9.
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