Hot Shot: Kyrgios Channels Inner Hewitt In Miami
Hot Shot: Kyrgios Channels Inner Hewitt In Miami
Mar282017
British number one Johanna Konta eased into the quarter-finals of the Miami Open with a 7-5 6-1 victory over Lara Arruabarrena.
Konta was given a testing time in the opening set by the Spaniard, who had won only one match this year prior to the tournament.
But 10th seed Konta’s serving was key and she broke Arruabarrena at 6-5 up before going on to dominate.
Konta will now play third seed Simona Halep in the last eight.
Romanian Halep saved a match point before beating Australian Sam Stosur 4-6 7-5 6-2.
“I felt I played myself more into the match a bit more,” said Konta, who is into the quarter-finals in Miami for the second successive year..
“As the match went on, I felt clearer and clearer on how I wanted to play and what I wanted to do out there from my perspective.
“I’m quite happy I was able to execute that reasonably well, and also make it tough for her to stay in that match with the level that she was playing at.”
Top seed Stan Wawrinka matched his best showing at the Miami Open presented by Itau on Monday night with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri. Wawrinka outplayed the 33-year-old veteran, who was trying to match his fourth-round showing at the BNP Paribas Open last week.
The Swiss right-hander saved all six break points and converted two of his four break chances during the 70-minute contest. Wawrinka will face #NextGenATP star Alexander Zverev in the fourth round on Tuesday.
Zverev won their only prior FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting, last year during the St. Petersburg Open final. But Wawrinka, the top seed at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament for the first time, will be trying to achieve his best showing in South Florida. The 31-year-old also reached the fourth round in Miami in 2009 (l. to Nadal) and 2014 (l. to Dolgopolov).
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#NextGenATP star Alexander Zverev saved three match points and came back from a set down to beat American John Isner 6-7(5), 7-6(6), 7-6(5) on Monday at the Miami Open presented by Itau. The win pushes Zverev through to the fourth round of an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament for the second time. He also reached the round of 16 last year in Indian Wells (l. to Nadal).
On Stadium Court against Isner, the 19-year-old German was down match points at 5/6 in the second-set tie-break and 4-5, 15/40 in the third set. But the 6’6” right-hander erased them all, and on his first match point, Isner sailed a backhand long. Zverev raised his arms to the sky in celebration after the two-hour and 38-minute contest.
Zverev will face top seed Stan Wawrinka, who beat Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri 6-3, 6-4. Zverev beat Wawrinka during their only other FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting, the St. Petersburg Open final last year.
Nick Kyrgios, another top young player on the ATP World Tour, also advanced after a three-set battle against a big-serving veteran. The 21-year-old Aussie outlasted 6’11” Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(2) in two hours and 26 minutes.
Kyrgios failed to convert all seven break chances in the second set, but the 12th seed stayed the course in the decider and came through to reach the fourth round. Kyrgios will next meet eighth seed David Goffin, who beat Argentine Diego Schwartzman 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in two hours and 32 minutes.
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Roger Federer added another big win to his nearly invincible 2017 on Monday, fighting off Argentine Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the fourth round of the Miami Open presented by Itau.
Federer, a two-time Miami champion (2005-06), never lost his serve against the powerful right-hander, who had five break chances but couldn’t convert any of them. The win improves Federer to 15-1 on the season and 46-13 for his career at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.
Federer also extends his FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead against del Potro to 16-5. Perhaps more impressive, the Swiss star adds del Potro’s name to his list of defeated opponents during his comeback season, a ledger that also includes Top 10 players Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori and Rafael Nadal.
In the round of 16, Federer will try to add 14th seed Roberto Bautista Agut to that list. The Spaniard came back to beat American Sam Querrey 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 55 minutes.
The third-round showdown between Federer and del Potro was their first meeting since the round-robin stage of the 2013 ATP Finals, but they renewed their rivalry with vigor from the start on Monday afternoon. Federer sought to stay away from del Potro’s rocket forehand, targetting the backhand wing and seeking to catch del Potro favouring that side. Del Potro looked to crush his best stroke as often as he could.
But it was the 35-year-old Federer, as he has been all season long, who was more on point in front of a packed and boisterous crowd on Stadium Court. After failing to convert two break points at 3-2, Federer seized the occasion in the eighth game, ripping a forehand past del Potro, who left a backhand slice too short to challenge Federer.
Serving at 5-3, the fourth-seeded Swiss erased four break points and finished the set with a backhand drop shot that del Potro could only watch. Federer didn’t wait long to break in the second set, taking advantage of his first opportunity to go up 3-2. One break was all he would need as he served out their 20th FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting to love.
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Federer in action later
Former finalist Tomas Berdych powered into the fourth round of the Miami Open presented by Itaú on Monday as he defeated Gilles Muller 6-3, 6-4.
The 10th-seeded Czech won 76 per cent of his service points and converted two of his four break point chances to wrap up victory in 84 minutes, avenging the defeat he suffered to Muller in Tokyo last year.
The 31-year-old Berdych was runner-up at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in 2010, losing out to Andy Roddick. He has also reached the semi-finals on three further occasions. The right-hander goes on to face either #NextGenATP star Borna Coric or Adrian Mannarino.
Roger Federer is in action later. The Swiss faces Juan Martin del Potro in a blockbuster third-round clash.
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Roger Federer took his 2017 record to 15 wins from 16 matches as he beat Juan Martin del Potro at the Miami Open.
The Swiss, 35, won 6-3 6-4 to reach the last 16, where he will face Spanish 14th seed Roberto Bautista Agut.
“I feel like I earned it more,” said Federer, the champion in 2005 and 2006. “I was more the aggressor. It was more my racket, and I like it that way.”
In the women’s singles, German top seed Angelique Kerber beat Risa Ozaki of Japan 6-2 6-2.
Twelfth seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark progressed after Spanish sixth seed Garbine Muguruza retired when feeling dizzy in the heat at 7-6 (7-1) down.
“I started normal, and then like at 3-3 or something like this I started to feel headache, pain in my stomach,” said Muguruza. “And then it kind of went more and more during the match.
“When I was getting to the 5-4, something like this, I started to feel a little bit dizzy. I think it was the heat? The heat affected me suddenly like that.”
Wozniacki will next face Czech Lucie Safarova, who beat Slovakian fourth seed Dominika Cibulkova 7-6 (7-5) 6-1, while Czech second seed Karolina Pliskova brushed aside compatriot Barbora Strycova 6-1 6-4.
In the men’s singles, Czech 10th seed Tomas Berdych beat Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 6-3 6-4 and goes on to play Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
In what could be one of the matches of the tournament, the favourite Roger Federer takes on Juan Martin Del Potro on Stadium…
In what looks to be the standout match of the women’s tournament to date, Venus Williams will take on Svetlana…
Andy Murray is unlikely to play in Great Britain’s Davis Cup quarter-final against France next month as he recovers from an elbow injury.
GB captain Leon Smith will name his team for the tie, in Rouen from 7-9 April, at 12:00 BST on Tuesday.
Murray, 29, pulled out of the Miami Open almost a week before his opening match because of an elbow injury.
The world number one needs to rest “some sort of tear”, his brother Jamie told reporters in Florida.
He said Andy told him he could “do everything except serve” and “rest was all he had to do”.
“I am not planning that he is going to be there,” he added.
“If he is, then obviously that’s great for the team and we’ll see what happens, but the most important thing for him is just to get healthy.”
Smith is likely to call on Dan Evans and Kyle Edmund for the singles matches in Rouen, with Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot in line for the doubles.
The tie will be played indoors on clay at the Kindarena.