Upsets galore, but star power remains at Miami Open
03.23.25
Sebastian Korda – Photo by Peter Staples/ATP Tour
By Harvey Fialkov
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium has been rocked by upsets, losing eight of the top 15 men through the first three rounds of this prestigious Masters Series event presented by Itaú.
Several of the sports 20-something superstars have departed, including No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, No. 6 Jack Draper, No. 7 Daniil Medvedev, No. 8 Andrey Rublev, and on Sunday No. 9 Stefanos Tsitsipas will also have to look for clay-court shoes to get ready for the upcoming schedule.
Late Sunday a few minutes before midnight, No.12 Tommy Paul of Boca Raton bit the dust to Senior Forehand, 26th-ranked Francisco Cerundolo, 6-2, 7-6 (4) to join the scattered seeds. Cerundolo had the Argentine fan base out of their seats in the decisive tiebreaker when he continually painted the lines with his laser inside-out forehand.
The lanky 26-year-old’s pro career blasted off at this tournament in 2022 when the then 103rd-ranked Cerundolo streaked to the semifinals. The next week he was ranked 47 and hasn’t look back since.
That said, there are plenty of budding superstars sticking around to entertain the thousands of fans strolling around the fun-filled grounds. Three Next Gens from last year’ s kiddie corps tournament are putting on a dazzling show for the spectators, including Brazilian Joao Fonseca, 18, who has brought a taste of Rio de Janeiro to Stadium Court, Czech Republic’s 19-year-old serving machine Jakub Mensik and 20-year-old flashy Frenchman, Arthur Fils, all in the wide-open bottom half of the draw in action on Monday.
Fils will play 27-year-old American Frances Tiafoe, ranked 17th, and a two-time semifinalist at the US Open, who has yet to string two match wins in a row this year.
“I’m not even worried about the upsets. I’ve been getting upset every week,” Tiafoe joked to ATPTour.com. “I keep saying it. I’ve been on the Tour for a long time and the depth of the game is at an all-time high.
“You’ve got old guys who are still hanging on, you’ve got young guys who are playing elite, trying to make their way into the Tour, and then you’ve got the top guys trying to hang on for dear life. The Tour is madness.”
Still hanging around is “one of those old guys” Tiafoe alluded to, fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic, the all-time leader with 24 Grand Slams, who cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 third-round victory over Lucky Loser Ugo Carabelli of Argentina in front of multiple Grammy- and Latin- award singer Marc Anthony.
Djokovic, 37, who’s vying for his seventh Miami Open title that would surpass Andre Agassi for the most, will take on another young star in 23-year-old Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the 15th seed, in the round of 16.
Djokovic believes the game is in great shape with newcomers such as Fonseca, as well as talented No. 1 and No. 2 superstars in robotic-stroking 23-year-old Jannik Sinner and charismatic 21-year-old Alcaraz, who have combined to win seven Grand Slams.
“He has been the talk of the tour in the last several months,’’ Djokovic said of Fonseca. “So young and just incredible firepower from both ends of the baseline. Serve. He’s a very complete player. What is impressive is the way he strikes the ball, but even more so how he handles the nerves on the court for someone that doesn’t have experience at all playing at the highest level.
“He’s exciting for Brazil, for the world of tennis. … He’s not the only one. You have Mensik. Maybe because people talk about Fonseca so much, they forgot about Mensik. They’re [close to] the same age. [Learner] Tien, as well. All those players are very young, but they have as good of rankings as he does.
“I think it’s exciting, I don’t know what should I call it, that generation, new, new, new generation is bringing. It’s always great that you have exciting players to watch and see the players that have potential to reach the greatest heights and to carry this sport.
“Obviously, Sinner and Alcaraz are the leaders of today, still very young. But then these guys, seems like they’re knocking on the door of Sinner, Alcaraz in the years to come.”
American Sebastian Korda, 24, was in this conversation before elbow surgery slowed his rise up the ranks, but he certainly looked the part on Sunday, taking out Tsitsipas, 7-6 (4), 6-3, despite failing to serve out the first set at 5-4.
“I think this tournament can have a lot of upsets because if you do really well at Indian Wells it’s completely different,’’ Korda said referring to all four Indian Wells finalists (Alcaraz, Draper, Rune and Medvedev all losing their first match here). “You got a lot of humidity. The balls and courts are completely different. It’s not easy to adjust so there are a lot of upsets but luckily, I wasn’t one of them.”
Korda lost in his first round at Indian Wells to 38-year-old veteran Gael Monfils (38 winners) and will get his chance for revenge as the speedy Frenchman sent Butch Buchholz Family Court into a frenzy, particularly when he broke back at love at 5-6 of the third set against Spain’s Jaume Munar, who sent Medvedev packing earlier this week.
Monfils completed the 2:37 thriller, 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (1) to become the second oldest man behind Ivo Karlovic (40) to reach a Masters 1000 round of 16 since 1990 and the oldest in tournament history.
Korda’s dad Petr, a former No. 2 and Australian Open champion, was in his box rooting on his son, who went after the Greek’ backhand on his way to the net where he converted 13 of 20.
“There was no secret what the game plan was for either one of us,’’ said Korda, who has two titles and was ranked 15th last August. “He was going to hit to my forehand and I was going to hit to his backhand, and any short ball I had I was coming to the net.”
Belgian David Goffin, another oldie still capable of spectacular tennis, couldn’t follow up on his kayo of the second-seeded Alcaraz on Friday, falling to American Brandon Nakashima, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3.
Veteran Grigor Dimitrov, once compared to Roger Federer, continued his quest to top last year’s final berth in Miami (beat Alcaraz in semis), with a thrilling 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-5 victory over hard-hitting Russian Karen Khachanov.
“They’re young, strong and hungry,’’ said Dimitrov, who had 46 winners to Khachanov’s 24, and saved all five break points to improve to 5-1 over Khachanov. “I’ve gone through three generations of players and I can see where the difference is huge.”
Quiet assassin Casper Ruud, the fifth seed from Norway, snuck past Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo, 6-4, 7-6 (4), to escape the upset virus. Ruud, 26, was briefly ranked No. 2 in 2022.
