Thursday Preview: Musetti, Korda & Kokkinakis Begin Miami Campaigns
Three #NextGenATP stars — Lorenzo Musetti, Sebastian Korda and Thiago Seyboth Wild — start their campaigns at the Miami Open presented by Itau on Thursday, when there will be 16 singles and four doubles matches. Thanasi Kokkinakis will also make his first appearance at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament in almost three years (2018 Monte-Carlo).
[WATCH LIVE 1]Musetti, the charismatic 19-year-old, who broke into the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings for the first time on Monday, makes his Miami debut against American wild card Michael Mmoh in the final match on Butch Buchholz court.
The Italian made a big impression at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in October last year, qualifying for the Rome tournament and beating Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori en route to the third round. Last week, as a qualifier at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC, Musetti beat Diego Schwartzman, Frances Tiafoe and Grigor Dimitrov before falling to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Acapulco semi-finals.
World No. 87 Korda will start his fourth ATP Masters 1000 tournament appearance full of confidence, having advanced to his first ATP Tour final in January at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com (l. to Hurkacz). The American, who is the son of Petr Korda, went on to capture his second ATP Challenger Tour title at Quimper (d. Horansky). Only 10 spots separate the 20-year-old from his first-round opponent in Miami, World No. 77 and 2019 Delray Beach titlist Radu Albot of Moldova. They will contest the 7pm night session match on Grandstand.
Seyboth Wild, who clinched his first ATP Tour title at the Chile Dove Men+Care Open in Santiago (d. Ruud) last year, makes his Masters 1000 debut against Colombia’s Daniel Elahi Galan in the fourth match on Court 4.
Tennis fans can also look forward to watching Australia’s Kokkinakis, who won the hearts of many new fans at last month’s Australian Open when he took Tsitsipas to five sets in Melbourne. The 24-year-old, who is continuing his comeback after a series of injuries in recent years, takes on fellow qualifier and 17-year-old Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan in the first match on Butch Butchholz court.
Also on the second show court, former World No. 3 and 2016 Cincinnati titlist Marin Cilic, who is one of seven former Masters 1000 champions in the Miami draw, meets Guillermo Coria’s brother, Federico Coria of Argentina, while South Africa’s Kevin Anderson also challenges Thiago Monteiro of Brazil.
Doubles play gets underway on day two with Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev facing sixth seeds Wesley Koolhof and Lukasz Kubot. Third seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, and Felix Auger-Aliassime and Hubert Hurkacz also feature on the schedule.
Watch Live | View TV Schedule
SCHEDULE – THURSDAY, 25 MARCH 2021
GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
WTA MATCH
[Q] B. Fratangelo (USA) vs F. Verdasco (ESP)
Not Before 3:00 pm
WTA MATCH
Not Before 7:00 pm
S. Korda (USA) vs R. Albot (MDA)
BUTCH BUCHHOLZ start 11:00 am
[Q] S. Mochizuki (JPN) vs [Q] T. Kokkinakis (AUS)
J. Chardy (FRA) vs D. Kudla (USA)
M. Cilic (CRO) vs F. Coria (ARG)
[PR] K. Anderson (RSA) vs T. Monteiro (BRA)
[WC] M. Mmoh (USA) vs L. Musetti (ITA)
COURT 2 start 11:00 am
[WC] J. Draper (GBR) vs M. Kukushkin (KAZ)
J. Thompson (AUS) vs F. Delbonis (ARG)
M. Kecmanovic (SRB) vs [Q] L. Broady (GBR)
P. Martinez (ESP) vs T. Sandgren (USA)
C. O’Connell (AUS) vs J. Sousa (POR)
COURT 4 start 11:00 am
S. Kwon (KOR) vs I. Ivashka (BLR)
S. Caruso (ITA) vs Y. Uchiyama (JPN)
F. Auger-Aliassime (CAN) / H. Hurkacz (POL) vs S. Gille (BEL) / J. Vliegen (BEL)
D. Galan (COL) vs [Q] T. Seyboth Wild (BRA)
A. Bedene (SLO) vs [Q] T. Fabbiano (ITA)
COURT 6 start 11:00 am
T. Fritz (USA) / J. Isner (USA) vs A. Bublik (KAZ) / A. Mannarino (FRA)
T. Puetz (GER) / A. Zverev (GER) vs [3] M. Granollers (ESP) / H. Zeballos (ARG)
K. Khachanov (RUS) / A. Rublev (RUS) vs [6] W. Koolhof (NED) / L. Kubot (POL)