Jannick Sinner reached the round of 16 at the second Masters 1000 event of the year in Miami after toppling Tallon Griekspor 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 in just over two hours and 20 minutes of play.
Last year's finalist achieved a very difficult win against the 25th ranked Dutchman. Griekspor showed teeth from the start and saved three break points in the fourth game of the opening set. He steadied his performance on serve and waited for his moment in the 11th game when he made a decisive break. In the second set, the Australian Open champion missed a set point in the tenth game, before breaking to take the match into a final third set. In it, Griekspor had no resistance and took only one game.
Thus, Sinner will play in the round of 16 with the representative of Australia, Christopher O'Connell.
Reigning champion Daniil Medvedev moves on after a clean sweep of Cameron Norrie. The Russian has a match against the unseeded Dominik Koepfer from Germany, who surprised number 14 in the scheme Ugo Humbert.
Veteran Andy Murray, a two-time tournament champion, left Miami after a 7-5, 5-7, 6-7 (5) loss to Czech Tomas Machac. The marathon lasted nearly three and a half hours and the Briton let go of a 5-3 lead in the decisive third set tiebreak. Out of the competition is the sixth seed Holger Rune, who suffered a heavy defeat by the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan with 1-6, 1-6. Casper Ruud and Alex de Minaur, who are seventh and ninth respectively in the scheme, did not allow any surprises in their matches.
On the women's side, world No. 1 Iga Swiatek slipped through the eye of a needle against 19-year-old Linda Noskova. The young Czech, who earlier in the year beat the Pole at the Australian Open and later lost to her in Indian Wells, fought until the end but eventually went down 7-6 (7), 4-6, 4-6 after two hours and 42 minutes.
The first set was decided in a tiebreak after Swiatek twice lost a break advantade. She also had a set point in the long tiebreak but in the end Noskova managed it for the final 9-7. The women's No. 1 raced to a 5-1 lead in the second set, but her opponent cut the lead to 4-5 before going down 4-6. The third set ended the same way and was decided by a single break of Swiatek's account, which came in the fifth game. In the tenth, on her serve, she had to fend off three break points, but she managed and thus progressed to the next round.
For the 2022 champion, a duel with the 14th seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova from Russia is coming.
Jessica Pegula, seeded fifth, secured an all-American clash with Emma Navarro after a clean sweep of former US Open finalist Leila Fernandez. Coco Gauff will play Caroline Garcia in another intriguing round of 16 after the Frenchwoman overcame Naomi Osaka 7-6 (4), 7-5. In the last match of the 1/8-finals in the upper half of the scheme, Sorana Cirstea plays with the representative of the hosts Danielle Collins. /BGNES
