Hubert Hurkacz saved 5 match factors as he fought again to beat Thanasi Kokkinakis in a three-and-a-half-hour epic whereas fourth-seed Daniil Medvedev obtained his Miami Open bid underway with a straightforward win on Saturday.
Hurkacz was pushed all the best way by the Australian fortunate loser Kokkinakis earlier than rising with a 6-7 (10/12), 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (8/6) victory.
The Aussie had proven his mettle by saving six set factors as he received the first-set tie-break and Hurkacz, the 2021 Miami champion, saved three match factors in the second-set tie-break and one other two in the final-set breaker.
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“It’s robust to clarify for me. I used to be simply attempting to remain in there and compete, play some good pictures,” said Hurkacz, the eighth seed at Hard Rock Stadium.
Kokkinakis was on serve at 6-4 up in the final set tie-break but Hurkacz produced a stunning winner up the line and that shot finally turned the tide decisively towards the Pole, who won the next three points to settle the contest.
The three hours, 31 minutes contest was the longest best-of-three ATP match of the year so far.
In contrast, Indian Wells runner-up Medvedev barely broke a sweat beating Spanish clay-court specialist Roberto Carballes Baena 6-1, 6-2 in just 62 minutes.
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The Russian’s loss to Carlos Alcaraz in the Indian Wells final had ended his 19-match winning streak, but he was totally dominant as he struck 18 winners to the Carballes Baena’s five.
Medvedev made use of the drop shot, which Alcaraz had used to good effect against him last week, and joked that he had been trying to emulate the world number one.
“I thought I needed to use that shot more. I’ve always liked drop shots but it’s not a weapon in my game that I’m going to use 50 times a match,” he mentioned.
– Looking ahead –
“You have to believe in the shot and in the present day it labored fairly nicely,” he said.
“I’m happy with my first match, solid performance, looking forward for next matches,” he added.
Medvedev turned the primary participant to succeed in 25 wins this season on both the ATP or WTA excursions.
Americans Christopher Eubanks and Mackenzie McDonald produced upset wins to guide their locations in the third spherical.
Eubanks pulled off the most important win of his profession to this point to beat Seventeenth-ranked Croatian Borna Coric 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 whereas McDonald beat Italy’s Matteo Berrettini 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (7/5).
The 26-year-old Eubanks ranked 119th in the world, recovered from a primary set the place the Croat appeared in agency management to thrill the house crowd.
“I actually felt like I wasn’t enjoying that unhealthy. I simply wasn’t executing,” Eubanks said. “I felt like my game plan was right. I wanted to be disruptive. I wanted to get the net. I just wasn’t executing on shots. I can kind of live with that.
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“So I said, ‘Well, I feel like I’m playing the right way. If I just continue to try it, hopefully the execution errors will lessen and I’ll be able to find my range.’ I was able to do that.”
McDonald received a thriller in opposition to Twenty third-ranked Berrettini, edging each tie-breaks and surviving two set factors in the twelfth sport of the second set.
Czech Jiri Lehecka’s spectacular kind continued as he took out 18th seed Lorenzo Musetti.
The 21-year-old, who reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final in Australia, triumphed 6-4, 6-4 to succeed in the third spherical of a Masters 1000 occasion for the primary time.
Two-time Grand Slam runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas superior into the third spherical after France’s Richard Gasquet withdrew with an ankle damage.
Greek quantity two seed Tsitsipas, will subsequent face Chile’s Cristian Garin, who beat Argentine Sebastian Baez 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.
Tsitsipas was runner-up at this yr’s Australian Open and the 2021 French Open however misplaced his opening-round match at Indian Wells earlier this month.
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