American Taylor Fritz and Italian Jannik Sinner defeated top seeds in straight sets Tuesday at the Miami Tennis Open to advance to the quarter-finals.
Seeded ninth in the tournament, Fritz amassed exactly twice as many game winners (22) as unforced errors and lost serve just once en route to a 6-3, 6- 4 against Denmark’s Holger Rune, seeded seventh.
Fritz, the highest-ranked ATP player from the United States, will make the quarter-finals for the first time in seven appearances in Miami.
He will face Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, defending champion and world number one, who eliminated American Tommy Paul in two identical sets of 6-4.
” I can not wait [d’affronter Alcaraz], mentioned Fritz. I also think a lot of people are excited to see it. »
As for 10th-seeded Sinner, he still hasn’t dropped a set since the start of the tournament after beating sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-4.
Sinner’s next opponent will be ATP 54th-ranked Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori, who upset 26th-seeded Dutchman Bostic Van De Zandschulp in three sets of 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in 2 h 45 mins.
Second-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas was upset 7-6(4), 6-4 by 14th-seeded Karen Khachanov.
The Russian overcame the Greek’s 11 aces and scored the only break of the match.
Rybakina irresistible, Fernandez wins in doubles
In women’s singles, Kazakh Elena Rybakina, world number seven, was the first player to qualify for the semi-finals after a convincing 6-3, 6-0 win over Italy’s Martina Trevisan.
Defending Wimbledon champion Rybakina won in 72 minutes and needed just 27 minutes to complete the second set in which she conceded just 10 points.
The 23-year-old Kazakh scored her 12th straight win and amassed at least 10 aces in her fourth straight game. She has a 20-4 record since the start of 2023.
Finalist at the Australian Open last January, Rybakina is trying to achieve a “double under the sun” after his triumph in the final of the Omnium BNP Paribas on March 19 in Indian Wells, California. Only four other players have achieved such a feat, including Iga Swiatek last year.
“It would be great to do that, but there’s a long way to go,” said Rybakina.
In the semi-finals, Rybakina will cross swords with the American Jessica Pegula, third seed, or the Russian Anastasia Potapova, who must face each other in the evening.
Elsewhere, in a women’s doubles match, Laval’s Leylah Fernandez and American Taylor Townsend earned their spot in the semi-finals with a 2-6, 7-6 (4), 10-8 victory over the duo formed by Ukrainian Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko.
Kichelok and Ostapenko entered the tournament as the third seeds.
In the semi-finals, Fernandez and Townsend will face the duo of Poland’s Magda Linette and American Bernarda Pera, who beat the tandem of Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu and Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina 6-3, 7 -6 (5).