Miami (AFP) – Defending Miami Open champion Daniil Medvedev marched into the quarter-finals of the tournament on Tuesday with a 7-6 (7/5), 6-0 win over Germany’s Dominik Koepfer, while Casper Ruud crashed out in straight sets.
The Russian made an unusually sloppy start on Stadium court, with a series of unforced errors and found himself trailing 4-0 in the first set tie-break. But having overturned that deficit, Medvedev went on to win all the remaining games as he showed that, despite his concerns over the rapid deterioration of balls on the hard court surface, he is comfortable with conditions.
Medvedev suggested that Koepfer had struggled to recover from the blow of seeing his tie-break lead vanish. “I think sometimes it happens, when you lose the first set the way he lost it. He played very good, probably was closer to winning it because of the 4/0 in the tie-break and when you lose such a set, especially when the points were tough, it brings your energy down,” he said. “I knew I had to use that in the beginning of the second set. That’s why it was the most important and I managed to do it. Sometimes that happens, but the level was high today,” he added.
The world number four, Medvedev will face Chilean Nicolas Jarry who upset Norwegian seventh seed Ruud with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 win. Czech Tomas Machac eased into the quarters with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi.
Later on Tuesday, top seed Carlos Alcaraz will face Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti. Jannik Sinner, the Italian second seed, plays Christopher O’Connell of Australia.
© 2024 AFP
