March 20 : Britain’s Jack Draper suffered a surprise defeat to American Reilly Opelka in the second round of the Miami Open on Friday, while Ethan Quinn claimed the biggest win of his career by upsetting 11th seed Casper Ruud.
Draper had arrived in Florida on the back of a quarter-final run at Indian Wells, just his second ATP Tour event after an extended spell out with an arm injury, but was unable to build on that momentum.
Opelka produced a dominant serving display to beat 25th seed Draper 7-6(3) 7-6(0), firing 25 aces and 47 winners to reach the third round on home soil.
“I didn’t have many chances, especially on his serve,” Draper told reporters. “I didn’t get broken in the match so that was kind of my job, right?”
Earlier, after rain disrupted play in Miami Gardens, fellow American Quinn saved seven set points on his way to a 6-4 7-6(7) victory over Ruud, progressing for the first time in his career to a third round at a Masters 1000 event.
Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, a former world number six, also clinched a surprise 6-4 6-4 win over 10th seed Alexander Bublik.
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Persistent rain forced further scheduling changes, with several matches pushed to Saturday, while world number one and newly crowned Indian Wells champion Aryna Sabalenka was moved to a secondary court to face Ann Li.
Sabalenka survived a stern battle against her American opponent, grinding out a 7-6(5) 6-4 victory to reach the third round.
“I was there, I was fighting no matter what, even though my game probably wasn’t the best one that I have,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview.
“She played incredible tennis – she was super aggressive and she served incredibly.”
Men’s top seed Carlos Alcaraz later kept his title charge on track, sailing through to the next round with a composed 6-4 6-4 win over Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca.
World number two Elena Rybakina continued her tremendous form, defeating her Kazakh compatriot Yulia Putintseva 6-3 6-3.
Sixth seed Amanda Anisimova overcame a second-set wobble, after serving for the match before the rain delay, to beat Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1 5-7 6-4.
Fourth seed Coco Gauff and seventh seed Jasmine Paolini both came from a set down to defeat Elisabetta Cocciareto and Taylor Townsend, respectively, and advanced to the next round.
