The Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo (21st in the ATP ranking), defeated the Austrian Sebastián Ofner 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (2-7), 6-1 in two hours and 15 minutes to advance in the Masters 1000 in Miami, where he will face the Russian Karen Khachanov (16th) tomorrow, at 5:30 p.m.
The former Soviet is 2-0 in the history and, precisely at the Miami Masters 1000, last year, he eliminated him in the quarterfinals.
The tournament holds good memories for the 25-year-old from Buenos Aires, who reached the semifinals in 2022 and reached the quarterfinals in 2023, until he ran into Khachanov.
The day was not positive for the Argentine legion. Sebastián Báez (19th), who was coming off a series of nine consecutive victories on the clay of South America, where he won the titles in Rio de Janeiro and Santiago de Chile, said goodbye in his debut against the German Dominik Koepfer (50th ), who defeated him 6-3, 6-2, while Tomás Etcheverry (30th) couldn’t beat Andy Murray (62nd) and lost 7-6 (0), 6-3.
Báez completed one of the worst games of his season. He was erratic at the back of the court, had a hard time generating winning shots and was outspeeded by the German left-hander. The Argentine was not precise with his serve, a shot with which he played 73% of the points but in which he barely won 63%.
On the other hand, Etcheverry, who arrived just enough in Miami, after recovering from a tear in the semimembranosus of his right leg, could not face a Murray who ran and fought for every point.
The Argentine was able to keep the match under control with his serve, to the point that the first difference came only in the tie break of the initial set, at which time the Scot made no mistakes and took it without giving up a single point. Then, after losing serve in the sixth game of the second set, Etcheverry was never able to take the advantage from Murray, despite the fact that he had a 0-40 in the last game of the match.
After the previous defeats of Diego Schwartzman, Pedro Cachín, Facundo Díaz Acosta and Nadia Podoroska, Cerúndolo was the only surviving Argento in the contest held in Florida.
For their part, the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz and the Italian Jannik Sinner debuted with comfortable victories in a day that closed with the departure of Aryna Sabalenka, who was competing under the impact of the recent death of her former partner.
Six days after his victory in Indian Wells (California), Alcaraz reappeared with a relentless 6-2, 6-1 victory against his compatriot Roberto Carballés, whom he made bitter on his birthday.
“It was difficult to adapt my game to these conditions, because of the humidity, the court, the balls. But I think I did quite well. I am very happy with my performance,” declared Alcaraz after his eleventh consecutive victory against Spanish rivals.
Miami is the scene where Alcaraz won the first of his five Masters 1000 trophies in 2022. On this occasion he aspires to become the first Spaniard to win the American Masters 1000 in Indian Wells and Miami in the same year, a double known as ‘Sunshine Double ‘.
The 20-year-old prodigy from El Palmar will face the Frenchman Gaël Monfils (47th) or the Australian Jordan Thompson (34th) in the third round in the next phase of this tournament in which he is first classified due to the absence of Novak Djokovic.
Jannik Sinner, second seed, also performed well in his first match after his defeat at the hands of Alcaraz in the Indian Wells semifinals, where he saw his 19-match winning streak broken.
The Italian, twice a finalist in Miami (2021 and 2023), beat his compatriot Andrea Vavassori 6-3, 6-4 while the current champion, the Russian Daniil Medvedev, beat the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 6-2 .
2024-03-25 03:01:00
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