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.

Six-time champion Novak Djokovic joins Indian Wells winner Juan Martin del Potro in second-round action on Friday at the Miami Open presented by Itau. Among the other seeds on the schedule are [2] Marin Cilic, [3] Grigor Dimitrov, [19] Hyeon Chung and [26] Kei Nishikori.

Here are five must-see matches Friday: 

Novak Djokovic vs. Benoit Paire
Competing with his elbow pain-free for the “first days in a long, long time”, Novak Djokovic will open his bid to pull clear of his coach Andre Agassi’s tied record of six Miami titles when he squares off against Frenchman Benoit Paire on Friday. Djokovic is on a 16-match winning streak in Miami, sweeping titles in 2014, 2015 and 2016 before missing last year’s tournament with a right elbow injury. He has also won 21 consecutive matches against Frenchmen and 58 of 59 overall since leading Serbia past France in the 2010 Davis Cup final. Ahead of Miami, Djokovic fell to World No. 109 Taro Daniel in the second round in Indian Wells. He has beaten Paire in their lone prior FedEx ATP Head2Head encounter in Cincinnati 2015. Paire opened his season with back-to-back semi-finals in Pune (l. to Anderson) and Sydney (l. to De Minaur). He bowed out in the first round in Indian Wells (l. to Krueger).

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following matches from the 2018 Miami Open presented by Itaú & vote for who you think will win! 
Djokovic vs Paire | Cilic vs Herbert | Goffin vs Sousa

Juan Martin del Potro vs. Robin Haase
Djokovic has completed the “Sunshine Double” a record four times and on Friday, Argentine fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro will begin his attempt to achieve the feat for a first time when he opens his Miami campaign against Robin Haase. In one of the most thrilling ATP World Tour finals of the season the 29-year-old on Sunday claimed his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title, saving three championship points in his victory over Roger Federer. The Argentine has nine wins over World No. 1s, most of any player never ranked No. 1 themselves. The No. 6 in the ATP Rankings has won 11 straight matches after his back-to-back titles in Acapulco and Indian Wells and has a 4-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Haase, including a straight-sets victory in the 2017 Miami second round. 

Marin Cilic vs. Pierre-Hugues Herbert
After the greatest start to a season in his career, Marin Cilic arrives in Miami with a Top 2 seeding for the first time and a desire to make up big points following an opening-round exit last season (l. to Chardy). The Croatian opened 2018 with a semi-final in Pune before he reached his third Grand Slam final at the Australian Open (l. to Federer in five sets) and a subsequent career-high No. 3 in the ATP Rankings. He beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the Pune quarter-finals in their only prior FedEx ATP Head2Head clash. Herbert defeated #NextGenATP American Taylor Fritz in the opening round and is coming off his first Masters 1000 Round of 16 appearance last week in Indian Wells (l. to Kohschreiber)

David Goffin vs. Joao Sousa
Belgian David Goffin makes his return after an eye injury from a ball forced his retirement in Rotterdam during a semi-final against Grigor Dimitrov. The 27-year-old had reached back-to-back semi-finals after his run in Montpellier (l. to Gasquet) the week before. Goffin’s best result in Miami is a semi-final two years ago (l. to Djokovic). He leads Portugal’s Joao Sousa 4-0 in the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head series, although Sousa did win a third-round Roland Garros qualifying match in 2012. No. 80 in the ATP Rankings, Sousa is coming off his third victory over a Top 10 opponent leading in, after a come-from-behind upset of No. 5 Alexander Zverev in the Indian Wells second round (l. to Raonic in 3R). The 29-year-old downed Ryan Harrison in the opening round in Miami.

Grigor Dimitrov vs. Maximilian Marterer
After opening his season with a semi-final showing in Brisbane (l. to Kyrgios) and a quarter-final appearance at the Australian Open (l. to Edmund), Dimitrov  reached the Rotterdam final (l. to Federer), his first since claiming last year’s Nitto ATP Finals. The third-seeded Bulgarian has fallen in the first round in his subsequent two events (Dubai l. to Jaziri, Indian Wells l. to Verdasco). Twice he has reached the fourth round in Miami. He will open his 2018 Miami campaign against German Maximilian Marterer. The pair has never played. Marterer beat Marton Fucsovics in his opening match and comes off a second-round appearance in Indian Wells (l. to Berdych), where he saved a match point to defeat Ivo Karlovic.

Novak Djokovic missed last year’s Miami Open presented by Itau for the first time since his debut in 2006 due to an elbow injury. On Thursday, he marked his return as he stepped out on the doubles court with countryman Viktor Troicki. The Serbians took the opening set after rallying from 1-4 down to start the match, but ultimately fell to Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya 4-6, 7-5, 10-3 after 83 minutes.

While Djokovic may have dropped his doubles opener, in singles he has been close to invincible at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament, winning 16 straight matches and 30 of the past 31. He opens his campaign for a record seventh Miami title on Friday against Frenchman Benoit Paire.

Mektic and Peya, finalists this year in Rio and Sofia, next play No. 2 seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers. The reigning Nitto ATP Finals champions picked up their first match win since the Australian Open as they prevailed against Dutchmen Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop 6-3, 3-6, 10-6.

John Isner, who claimed the BNP Paribas Open title last week alongside Jack Sock, teamed up with another American, Donald Young, for a 6-4, 7-6(1) win over Kyle Edmund and Nenad Zimonjic. Sock is playing with Nicholas Monroe this week.

Less than a month ago, #NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe found his big breakthrough, winning his maiden ATP World Tour title at the Delray Beach Open to become the youngest American to claim a trophy since a 19-year-old Andy Roddick did so in 2002. But his next time out, Tiafoe lost in straight sets against compatriot Ernesto Escobedo at Indian Wells. Would Tiafoe bounce back in Miami?

A tremendous 29-shot rally to save set point at 5-6 in the second set emphatically answered that question. Tiafoe buckled down when he needed to most, battling to defeat Argentine Nicolas Kicker 6-3, 7-6(4) at the Miami Open presented by Itau Thursday evening to advance to the second round at the tournament for the second consecutive year.

“Unbelievable tennis toward the end. It could have went either way and luckily it went my way,” Tiafoe said. “I don’t even know how long that rally was. That was an unbelievable rally.”

When Kicker’s final one-handed backhand sailed long, Tiafoe let out a scream that echoed through the Florida night, and he proceeded to whack the ball from his pocket into the stands in excitement — it was another great win in what has been the best year of the #NextGenATP star’s young career thus far. Prior to the New York Open in February, Tiafoe had never made an ATP World Tour quarter-final. In fact, last season, the right-hander earned seven tour-level victories. Thursday evening’s triumph was Tiafoe’s eighth tour-level win of the year, and it’s only March.

“I’m happy with the way I played tonight. Trying to build off that and keep going,” Tiafoe said. “I’m playing great… good to get this and be able to play another match.”

While the 20-year-old fell against eventual champion Roger Federer in the second round last year, he will look to go a step further against No. 21 seed Kyle Edmund, this year’s Australian Open semi-finalist. It will be the pair’s first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. 

 Watch Full Match Replays

Outside of the Delray Beach Open — at which he made the semi-finals — American Steve Johnson had been 1-6 in tour-level matches this season. After a tough first-round exit at Indian Wells, the 28-year-old played an ATP Challenger Tour event in Irving, Texas, where he won three matches to gain some momentum.

It appears to have paid off, as Johnson swept pass the Dominican Republic’s Victor Estrella Burgos 6-3, 6-3 to claim his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 victory of the season. Johnson will next face No. 18 seed Adrian Mannarino, against whom he owns a 2-1 FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead.

Two players who did have success in the Coachella Valley appear to be carrying momentum over to the east coast. Leonardo Mayer, who advanced to the Round of 16 at Indian Wells and held a set and a break lead against eventual champion Juan Martin del Potro before bowing out, battled back to defeat home favourite Donald Young 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. The Argentine will next face BNP Paribas Open semi-finalist Borna Coric, whom he has beaten in their two previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings.

Indian Yuki Bhambri, who won his first two Masters 1000 matches in California, earned his third victory at this level by defeating Sofia champion Mirza Basic 7-5, 6-3. That earns the qualifier a second-round battle against eighth seed Jack Sock.

Did You Know?
Tiafoe won seven tour-level matches in 2017. His victory against Kicker Thursday evening was his eighth tour-level triumph before the end of March in 2018.

Just two days after turning 18 years old, Nicola Kuhn gave himself the best birthday gift possible — the #NextGenATP Spaniard defeated qualifier Darian King 7-6 (4), 6-4, in one hour and 42 minutes at the Miami Open presented by Itau to become the youngest Spaniard to win an ATP World Tour match since 17-year-old Rafael Nadal defeated a 17-year-old Richard Gasquet in the second round at 2004 Estoril.

And not only was this the Spaniard’s first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 main-draw match, but it was Kuhn’s second tour-level match overall. 

“This is a special day for me,” Kuhn said following his win on Court 7 in Miami. “It was a very tough match. I’m happy with today’s victory, but now I need to focus on my next match.”

Kuhn, who will play No. 15 seed Fabio Fognini, isn’t the first Spaniard to clinch his inaugural ATP World Tour victory this year. In January, Ricardo Ojeda Lara defeated Jiri Vesely 6-3, 7-6(5) to earn his first win; Carlos Taberner notched his maiden win one month later by defeating Norbert Gombos 7-6(5), 7-6(1) at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier.

Kuhn has been in form since claiming his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title at Braunschweig in July 2017. He credits his work off the court to his success and insists that his work ethic will lift him to future triumphs.

“I’ve put in my time over the years to get to where I am,” Kuhn said. “People here [on the ATP World Tour] have a lot more experience than I have. I have to play matches, learn — whether I win or lose — and ultimately seize opportunities and give my all.”

Kuhn knows that while his triumph was one he won’t forget, he will keep pushing himself to play his very best.

“The key is to just go out there at every tournament and see what’s my limit,” Kuhn said. “Playing [Fognini] will be tough, but I can make it interesting. I just want to enjoy myself out there.”