-Six-times champion Novak Djokovic made his long-awaited Miami Open return on Friday and defeated Australian Rinky Hijikata 6-0 7-6 to achieve the third spherical whereas Polish second seed Iga Swiatek additionally superior.
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It marked Djokovic’s Miami return for the primary time since 2019 and the Serbian fourth seed’s victory was his 410th ATP Masters 1000 degree match win, tying him with Rafa Nadal for essentially the most of all time.
“I was playing really well, I mean on a very high level from the beginning, I knew exactly what I wanted to do tactically,” Djokovic stated throughout his on-court interview.
“Obviously it’s just the first match but the way I felt on the court and the way I played is really encouraging.”
It was all one-way visitors within the opening set as Djokovic showcased his superior shotmaking from the baseline together with a deadly service sport to make an ideal begin and wanted simply 27 minutes to wrap up the opening set.
However Hijikata refused to again down and his confidence grew throughout a tightly-contested second set the place neither participant may handle a break however Djokovic took over within the tiebreak the place he received the ultimate six factors.
Russian seventh seed Daniil Medvedev, the 2023 Miami champion who arrived this yr recent off a run to the Indian Wells semi-finals, crashed out on the first hurdle as he fell 6-2 6-3 to Spaniard Jaume Munar.
Former Miami finalists Casper Ruud and Grigor Dimitrov each superior whereas Australian Kyrgios, who this week earned his first win since October 2022, fell 7-6 6-0 to Karen Khachanov.
Second seed Carlos Alcaraz is about to kick off the night session towards Belgian David Goffin.
On the ladies’s aspect, former champion Swiatek beat Caroline Garcia for the second time in as many tournaments with a 6-2 7-5 victory that units up a third-round conflict with Belgian Elise Mertens, a 6-4 6-1 winner over American Peyton Stearns.
Swiatek beat Garcia in straight units on the identical stage in Indian Wells the place the Pole’s title defence ended final week within the semi-finals however confronted a way more decided opponent this time round.
Swiatek powered by way of the primary two video games of the match with out dropping a degree after which consolidated one other service break for a 4-0 lead earlier than leaning on her serve to safe the primary set in 29 minutes.
However the Pole confronted rather more resistance throughout a back-and-forth second set as she overturned a 3-1 deficit after which saved a set level whereas serving at 5-4 down as she closed out the match by successful the final three video games.
Former U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu additionally superior with a 7-6 2–6 7–6 win over Emma Navarro. Among the many different ladies advancing had been Spanish tenth seed Paula Badosa and Czech fifteenth seed Karolina Muchova.