Miami Open: Sinner, De Minuar advance as Murray, Rune bow out

Jannik Sinner passed a stern test from Tallon Griekspoor to keep his Miami Open presented by Itau campaign on track Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.

The 22-year-old and second-seeded Italian overcame a big-hitting start from the Dutch World No. 26 for a 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 third-round victory at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Florida. A short burst of rain had earlier forced the players from the court with Griekspoor leading 7-5, 3-3, but Sinner raised his level superbly upon resumption to cap a two-hour, 23-minute triumph.

Sinner won 10 of the 13 games played after the rain delay to ward off any potential upset and increase his Lexus ATP Head2Head series lead against Griekspoor to 4-0. After improving his record for 2024 to 18-1, the World No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings will next prepare for a fourth-round clash against Christopher O’Connell or Martin Damm.

Elsewhere, former World No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Andy Murray falls to Tomas Machac in a final-set tie-break Sunday in Miami.

The 36-year-old Brits rallied from 2-5 down in the final set against Tomas Machac and saved a match point at 5-6 before forcing a tie-break against the Czech. Murray led by a late mini break before Machac earned a 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(5) victory.

Machac will next play Italian Matteo Arnaldi, who ousted Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 7-6(7) earlier in the day.

Shelton on Sunday ensured he would not follow the same path as his countrymen Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe after delivering a rock-solid display to overcome Martin Landaluce 6-3, 6-4 at Hard Rock Stadium to reach the next round.

The 21-year-old lefty Shelton, the No. 17 in the PIF ATP Rankings, delivered plenty of big serving and did not face a break point en route to a 76-minute win against #NextGenATP Spaniard Landaluce. It was the 16th seed’s first main-draw win in Miami at the second attempt.

Next up for the American in his home state of Florida will be 23rd seed Lorenzo Musetti, who defeated Roman Safiullin 7-5, 6-1. Shelton is now 11-6 for the 2024 season, a tally that includes winning six of his seven opening-round matches at tour-level events.

In other action, Fabian Marozsan earned his third Top 10 win when he upset World No. 7 Holger Rune 6-1, 6-1. The Hungarian struck 23 winners and saved all three break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to advance after just 59 minutes.

Last season, Marozsan shocked then-World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz en route to the fourth round in Rome and Casper Ruud in Shanghai, where he reached the quarter-finals at an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time.

Competing in his fourth tournament at this level, Marozsan will aim to continue his perfect record of advancing to at least the last 16 when he meets Australian Alexei Popyrin in the third round. Popyrin moved past Czech Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-4.

Also, Ale de Minaur continued his impressive 2024 run with a 6-3, 6-2 win against Soonwoo Kwon. The Australian has now earned a Tour-leading 18 wins in 2024, having captured the ATP 500 crown in Acapulco earlier this month.

The 25-year-old, currently No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings, will play big-serving German Jan-Lennard Struff in the third round.