Miami, March 29 (BNA): Top seed Daniil Medvedev is one step closer to regaining world number one as he beat Spaniard Pedro Martinez 6-3 6-4 on Monday to reach the last 16 of the Miami Open, while Naomi Osaka. She qualified for the women’s lottery quarter-finals.
Medvedev, who could replace Novak Djokovic as the world number one if he reached the semi-finals in Miami, fired 14 aces, won 79% of his first serve points and broke Martinez three times to seal victory in 84 minutes, Reuters reported. .
“I felt that I should be more consistent, and the most consistent today will win,” Medvedev said.
“I was able to make a few mistakes in key moments, do better, and it was by a narrow margin but I managed to win and I’m really happy.”
Next up for the Russian, who lost his world number one ranking after a shock third-round loss to Indian Wells two weeks ago, will be American Jenson Broxby, a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 winner over 15th seed Roberto Bautista of Spain. Agut.
Spain’s 14th seed Carlos Alcaraz will meet Greek third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round after their straight-set victory over Marin Cilic and Alex de Minaur respectively.
The 18-year-old Alcaraz beat Tsitsipas in their only previous encounter, a thrilling five-setter in the third round of last year’s US Open.
“He’s a great player,” Tsitsipas said of Alcaraz.
“For me it will be a huge challenge, which I love.”
Indian Wells champion Taylor Fritz took advantage of the two break points to knock out fellow American Tommy Ball 7-6 (2) 6-4 and meet Serbian Miomir Kekmanovic, a 7-6 (4) 6-3 winner over Sebastian Korda.
It’s all about managing expectations, Fritz said.
“I didn’t really think about winning Indian Wells until I got match point in the final,” he said.
“So I approach this match the same way. I don’t expect to win the championship, but I play it one game at a time, and you never know.”
Osaka serving win
Japan’s Osaka reached the quarter-finals for the second year in a row, with a 6-3 6-4 victory over American Alison Riske, during which she won with 70% of the first service points and recovered after falling 2-0 in the second set.
Unseeded Osaka after the match showed a different state of mind than last year when she reached the Miami Open to finish second after winning the Australian Open.
“It’s really funny for me because last year I reached the quarter-finals (Miami) as well, but it was after I won Australia and I wasn’t very grateful, I was expecting to win,” Osaka said.
“But I’m in the same situation this year and so am I, that’s really like one of the funniest times of my life.”
Osaka, the four-time Grand Slam champion and first-placed semi-finalist in Miami, will face ninth-seeded Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins, who beat Tunisian eighth seed Ons Jabeur 6-2 6-4.
World number one Iga Swetic in Poland beat 14th seed Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-1 and will next play Petra Kvitova after Czech Veronika Kudermatova won 7-6 (5) 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals.
And the Spanish fifth seed Paula Padusa concluded on Wednesday evening against the Czech Linda Frohvertova.
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