Miami (AFP) – World number two Jannik Sinner made a smooth start Saturday at the Miami Open, where defending champion Jakub Mensik shook off a “horrible” first set to win his opening match. Six days after he lifted the Indian Wells trophy, Sinner launched his pursuit of tennis’ “Sunshine Double” in confident style with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over 76th-ranked Damir Dzumhur.
“First-round matches are never easy,” said the 24-year-old Italian, who won the 2024 Miami crown. After beating Daniil Medvedev for his first Indian Wells title, Sinner is trying to become the first to sweep the Indian Wells and Miami ATP Masters 1000 titles since Roger Federer in 2017. He pocketed the first set against Dzumhur in 34 minutes and broke the Bosnian for a 2-1 lead in the second set before breaking again on match point with a backhand winner.
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“Starting off with a break straight away, I tried to be a bit aggressive,” said Sinner, who dropped just eight points on his serve. “At times it worked very well, at times I made a couple of unforced errors. But I didn’t have a lot of time to adjust here. It’s very different than in Indian Wells.” Former number one Medvedev also had little time to adjust, but he managed to fight back for a 6-7 (10/12), 6-3, 6-1 victory over 19-year-old Japanese wildcard Rei Sakamoto.
Mensik, who fell in the third round at Indian Wells, was feeling the after-effects of illness as well as the pressure of defending his title in a rocky first set but righted the ship to beat Australian Adam Walton 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. “The first set it was horrible from my side,” the Czech said. After surrendering his serve twice in the first set, Mensik regrouped to break Walton in the opening game of the second set on the way to forcing a third and, with a break in hand for a 3-1 lead, rolled home.
“It was really difficult to come back to the match rhythm,” Mensik said. “(I’m) really happy that mentally I stayed focused and tough. The pressure that was around, I tried not to focus on that, tried to focus on my game.” Fourth-seeded German Alexander Zverev cruised into the third round with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over 133rd-ranked American Martin Damm. But eighth-seeded home hope Ben Shelton was ousted by Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
– Gauff fight-back –
Fourth-seeded Coco Gauff led the way into the women’s fourth round, roaring back for a 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory over fellow American Alycia Parks. Teenagers Mirra Andreeva and Victoria Mboko booked a last-16 meeting that will be their third clash of the WTA season. Eighth-seeded Russian Andreeva defeated Czech Marie Bouzkova 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, while 10th-seeded Canadian Mboko downed Russian qualifier Anastasia Zakharova 6-1, 7-5.
Andreeva, 18, and 19-year-old Mboko have split their last two matches, Andreeva winning in the final at Adelaide in January before Mboko sent her packing in the third round at Doha — saving a match point in the three-set win and going on to reach the final. Alexandra Eala, whose surprise semi-final run last year launched her rise from 140th in the world to her current 29th, reached the last 16 with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) victory over Poland’s Magda Linette — who had toppled third-ranked compatriot Iga Swiatek in the second round.
Women’s second-round play wrapped up as the rain-hit tournament got back on schedule. Fifth-seeded American Jessica Pegula, runner up to Aryna Sabalenka last year, advanced when ailing British opponent Francesca Jones retired while trailing 6-1, 3-0 in their match. Australian qualifier Talia Gibson — coming off an impressive quarter-final run in Indian Wells — took down four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka of Japan 7-5, 6-4.
© 2024 AFP
