Canada's Andreescu, Shapovalov advance to 3rd round, Fernandez ousted at Miami Open
The Canadian Press | Posted: March 24, 2023 6:32 PM | Last Updated: March 25, 2023
Auger-Aliassime set to play 2nd-round match on Saturday
Canadians Bianca Andreescu and Denis Shapovalov have advanced to the third round of the Miami Open, while Leylah Fernandez's singles tournament is over.
Andreescu, from Mississauga, Ont., moved on in the women's draw with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 win over seventh seed Maria Sakkari of Greece in a tennis match that took more than three hours to complete.
Earlier, Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont., advanced in the men's competition with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over Argentina's Guido Pella.
Belinda Bencic of Switzerland bounced Montreal's Fernandez 6-1, 6-1 in 67 minutes.
Andreescu improved to 2-1 against Sakkari, with both wins coming in Miami.
WATCH | Andreescu outlasts Sakkari:
The Canadian defeated Sakkari in the semifinals of the 2021 tournament before losing to Ash Barty in the final.
The 25th-seeded Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont., is looking to advance past the third round at the WTA/Masters 1000 event for the first time since 2019, when he lost to Swiss legend Roger Federer in the semifinals.
Andreescu had a chance to break Sakkari in the deciding game of the first set, but the Greek star held on to take a 1-0 lead.
Andreescu recovered in the second, where she didn't face break point and converted one of the two break-point chances.
The third set started with three straight breaks as Andreescu took a 2-1 lead. Andreescu went up another break, which gave her a needed cushion. Sakkari managed to get one of those breaks back, but couldn't manage the second.
Andreescu, who scored her third win over a top-10 opponent since she returned to action last April after a lengthy break, will face American Sofia Kenin in the third round.
WATCH | Insect on court has Andreescu momentarily halt match:
Shapovalov scored his third break of the match in the eighth game of the third set when Pella double-faulted on break point.
The Canadian then served to love in the deciding game to set up a third-round match with ninth-seed Taylor Fritz of the United States.
WATCH | Shapovalov shakes off frustration to advance in Miami:
Shapovalov scored an early break to take a 2-0 lead in the first set, then saved a break point and fired an ace on his first set point in the ninth game.
Pella scored his first break to take a 3-1 lead in the second set, but Shapovalov earned that break back in the next game.
The Argentine broke again to go up 4-2, then served to love in the deciding game to even the match at a set apiece.
Shapovalov, who had a bye in the first round, improved to 2-0 against Pella. The pair last met in the second round of the 2020 Rome Masters.
Bencic dispatched Fernandez in the second round in one hour, seven minutes. She had no double faults and earned 76 per cent of her points on first serve.
WATCH | Fernandez falls to Bencic:
Fernandez had two aces, three double faults and only won two service games.
Bencic was strong on both sides of the ball, winning seven service games and five return games.
Men's fifth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal was set to play a second-round match Saturday against Brazil's Thiago Monteiro.
Alcaraz wins in straight sets
Carlos Alcaraz picked up a straight-set win at the Miami Open on Friday to keep his world No. 1 ranking over idle Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic is not participating in the Miami Open because he still cannot travel to the United States as a foreign citizen who is not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Alcaraz, who beat Casper Ruud in the 2022 U.S. Open final for his first No. 1 ranking, defeated Facundo Bagnis 6-0, 6-2 to advance to the third round in Miami.
Rafael Nadal dropped out of the top 10 on Monday for the first time in 18 years. Alcaraz, a 19-year-old from Spain, rose into that spot a day after ending Daniil Medvedev's 19-match winning streak by beating him in straight sets in the final at Indian Wells, California.
Ruud, who's ranked No. 4, won his match against Ilya Ivashka 6-2, 6-3. He'll face No. 26 Botic van de Zandschulp on Sunday in the third round.