Jannik Sinner secured his place in the Miami Open quarter-finals on Tuesday by overcoming unseeded American Alex Michelsen in straight sets, maintaining his pursuit of the coveted “Sunshine Double.” The Italian, seeded second, who recently triumphed at Indian Wells, took 1 hour and 41 minutes to claim a 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) victory.
Despite being pushed by the 40th-ranked Michelsen, the four-time Grand Slam champion gradually intensified his pressure. After a cautious start, Sinner challenged Michelsen’s serve in the ninth game of the first set, creating three break points. Michelsen resisted initially, but Sinner eventually broke in the 11th game and served out the set.
Michelsen responded strongly in the second set, breaking Sinner to lead 4-2 and then holding serve to extend his advantage to 5-2. However, the American appeared to struggle with the bright late afternoon sunlight on the Hard Rock Stadium’s main court, allowing Sinner to mount a comeback and force a tiebreak. Sinner clinched the match with a powerful serve that Michelsen returned wide.
“I feel like I served very well in important moments and that helped me out, especially in the tough moments,” Sinner said, having delivered 15 aces compared to Michelsen’s three. “But today was not easy — I played a night match yesterday and today in the daytime, so the conditions were very different.”
Meanwhile, home favorite Frances Tiafoe, seeded 19th, advanced to face Sinner in the quarter-finals after defeating France’s Terence Atmane 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
In a notable upset, Spanish qualifier Martin Landaluce, ranked 151st globally, defeated American 32nd seed Sebastian Korda 2-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4. This victory followed Landaluce’s earlier elimination of Russian 14th seed Karen Khachanov. Despite Korda holding a match point late in the second set, Landaluce persevered and will now meet Czech 21st seed Jiri Lehecka in the quarter-finals. Landaluce dedicated his win to his late grandmother, who would have turned 101 last week.
Lehecka secured his quarter-final spot by ousting sixth seed Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-2 in a 2-hour 25-minute match. “In the third set, I knew I had to be aggressive to beat a player like Taylor,” Lehecka remarked.
American 22nd seed Tommy Paul cruised past Argentina’s Tomas Etcheverry 6-1, 6-3, setting up a quarter-final clash with France’s Arthur Fils, who defeated Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4.
Argentina’s 18th seed Francisco Cerundolo continued his strong run by following up his upset of Daniil Medvedev with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over French 31st seed Ugo Humbert. Cerundolo will face German third seed Alexander Zverev, who overcame France’s Quentin Halys 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/1) in the last eight.
