Miami (AFP) – American Ethan Quinn upset Norway’s 11th-seeded Casper Ruud 6-4, 7-6 (9/7) on Friday and advanced to the third round of the WTA and ATP Miami Open. Rain disrupted early afternoon play several times at Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, but could not stop Quinn, who saved seven set points in the second set on the way to victory after one hour and 52 minutes.
World number 56 Quinn, a 22-year-old former US college champion at Georgia, was coming off a Challenger title last week at Phoenix after a third-round exit at Indian Wells. Quinn saved three set points in the 12th game of the second set before holding to reach the tie-breaker. Ruud blasted the last of his eight aces to seize a 6-3 lead in the tie-breaker and a third set was within his grasp before Quinn rallied, his penultimate ace lifting him within 6-5.
Related news
Ruud served for a set but Quinn smacked a forehand volley winner to pull level. Quinn’s 13th ace denied Ruud on a seventh set point and knotted matters at 7-7. A service winner gave Quinn his first lead of the tie-breaker and Quinn advanced when Ruud swatted a forehand long. Quinn saved all six break points he faced, smashing 38 winners with 24 unforced errors to 27 winners and 16 unforced errors by Ruud.
On the women’s side, American sixth seed Amanda Anisimova outlasted Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 to reach the third round. Anisimova squandered a match point in the second set and led 5-2 in the third before the Aussie battled back, but Anisimova broke to capture the match after two hours and 12 minutes on a backhand down the line winner. Anisimova will next face either Spaniard Cristina Bucsa or Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva.
Romania’s 35th-ranked Sorana Cirstea upset Czech 14th seed Linda Noskova 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. Cirstea, 35, has said this will be her final WTA season. She won last month’s Transylvania Open for her fourth tour crown. Canadian teen 10th seed Victoria Mboko ousted Anna Blinkova 6-2, 6-0 while Swiss 12th seed Belinda Bencic also advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez.
Top-ranked defending champion Aryna Sabalenka will face 39th-ranked American Ann Li in a later afternoon match. Reigning US Open champion Sabalenka, a four-time Grand Slam champion from Belarus, seeks her 24th WTA title and third of the year after lifting trophies at Brisbane and Indian Wells. Also scheduled later is US fourth seed Coco Gauff against Italy’s 44th-ranked Elisabetta Cocciaretto, with the winner facing a third-round match against American Alycia Parks, who ousted Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-3.
In the night session, men’s top seed Carlos Alcaraz opens after a first-round bye against Brazil’s Joao Fonseca, with both expected to draw huge fan support. The 22-year-old Spaniard, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, is 16-1 on the season with titles at Doha and the Australian Open. Women’s world number two Elena Rybakina, the reigning Australian Open champion who lost last weekend’s Indian Wells final to Sabalenka, later faces 75th-rated Kazakhstan compatriot Yulia Putintseva.
© 2024 AFP
