Alexei Popyrin has bought his Miami Open marketing campaign off to a successful begin after his opponent Mikael Ymer retired at 1-0 down and 4-4 within the second set.
Popyrin, the only real Australian winner throughout the ATP 1000 Masters occasion and the WTA event on Wednesday, had taken the opening set 7-6 (7-5) earlier than his Swedish rival pulled up with an ankle damage.
The world No.93 will face No.26 seed Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands within the subsequent spherical.
His fellow countryman Aleksandar Vukic was unable to maintain his qualifying kind going, shedding to Serbia’s Laslo Djere 6-2 7-6 (7-3), whereas within the girls’s first spherical Storm Hunter fell 6-0 7-6 (7-5) to the 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin.
4 extra Aussies shall be in motion within the spherical of 128 after Chris O’Connell and Thanasi Kokkinakis, who each misplaced their last qualifying spherical matches on Wednesday, had been promoted into the primary draw after a number of late withdrawals.
There they are going to be part of world No.70 Jason Kubler and qualifier Jordan Thompson.
Kokkinakis has been drawn in opposition to Belgian wild card Zizou Bergs, O’Connell faces French veteran Richard Gasquet, Kubler takes on Brazil’s world No.81 Thiago Monteiro, and Thompson shall be up in opposition to Slovakia’s Alex Molcan.
World No.18 Alex de Minaur will get his Miami marketing campaign underway within the second spherical.
With seven rivals reaching the primary spherical, that is Australia’s highest illustration in a Miami Open males’s singles draw since 2001.
Elsewhere within the males’s first spherical, Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic survived a 16-shot rally on the ultimate level to beat Andy Murray 6-4 7-5 and set-up a gathering with Maxime Cressy of the US.
It was disappointing for three-time grand slam champion Murray, who reached the ultimate in Doha final month.
The 35-year-old flung his racket in frustration after a expensive unforced error – one among 15 throughout the match – late on and informed reporters he had anticipated a greater efficiency.
“I served fairly nicely, however the remainder of the sport was a little bit of an issue at the moment,” he stated.
“I did not actually return that nicely (and) made a variety of errors that I would not count on to be making.”
– with Reuters
