Miami (USA), Mar 25 (EFE).- The Russian Daniil Medvedev, the Polish Hubert Hurkacz and the Kazakh Elena Rybakina, who eliminated the Spanish Paula Badosa after annulling a match point, reigned this Saturday in chaos of the Miami tournament, in a day marked by marathons, surprises and epic comebacks.
Apart from the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who reached the third round without playing due to the withdrawal of the French Richard Gasquet, the one who had to work the least to advance to the round was Medvedev, who overwhelmed the Spanish 6-1 and 6-2 in 62 minutes Roberto Carballés to meet the Slovakian Alex Molcan in the third round.
Instead, Hurkacz, champion in 2021, won a battle of more than three and a half hours against Australian Thanasis Kokkinakis after annulling four match balls.
The Pole triumphed 6-7(10), 7-6(7) and 7-6(6), after annulling two match points in the second set tiebreaker and another two in the third set, in a duel marked by Spectacular shots by both players.
In particular, Hurkacz annulled a match point with a backhand return that astonished Kokkinakis himself, incredulous at the level of the Pole’s blow.
Another epic battle was between Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime and Brazilian Thiago Monteiro, with the world number 6 winning 7-6(5) and 7-6(8) in two hours and 41 minutes.
“I had never played two sets that long”, acknowledged Auger Aliassime at the end of the match. He now awaits a third round clash with the Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo, who beat the American Aleksandar Kovacevic.
As if that were not enough, Frances Tiafoe, a semifinalist last year at the US Open, had to come back to win 6-7(5), 7-6(3) and 6-4 against Japanese Youske Watanuki (n.123). .
The Japanese played extraordinary tennis and put on a magnificent show, before giving up after disallowing as many as six match points in favor of Tiafoe.
Among the other results, the Chilean Cristian Garín eliminated the Argentine Sebastián Báez and met with Tsitsipas in the third round.
For his part, the Russian Karen Khanov eliminated the Argentine Tomás Etcheverry 6-1, 3-6 and 6-3 to advance to the third round, where the Czech Jiri Lehecka awaits him.
In the women’s circuit, the surprise was the elimination of the American Coco Gauff, struck down by the Russian Anastasia Potapova 6-7(8), 7-5 and 6-2 after more than two and a half hours of battle.
Jessica Pegula, number three in the world, who beat Danielle Collins 6-1, 7-6(0) advanced without much trouble, while Badosa said goodbye in the third round against Rybakina, who had already beaten her two weeks ago in Indian Wells .
Badosa, number 29 in the world, was 4-2 up in the second set and, despite losing the lead break, had a match point at 5-4 and Rybakina on serve. She was unable to take advantage of it and ended up succumbing to the Indian Wells champion after a battle of two hours and 32 minutes.
