Britain’s Kyle Edmund will face World no.1 Novak Djokovic for the first time in the second round of the Miami Masters after he defeated Jiri Vesely 6-4, 5-7, 7-6.
In a close match with the Czech left-hander, Edmund took the first set, serving strongly and capitalising on the single break point afforded to him. Vesely came back in the second with two breaks serving a attempted comeback by Edmund in the final game to take the match to a decider.
It was Edmund who continually set the pace in the third, earning three break points and winning more than half of the points on Vesely’s second serve. Yet the break would not come, and determined display from the Czech took the match to a tiebreak. The tiebreak went to form though, as Edmund just edged his opponent eight-six for his first ever meeting with a current world no. 1.
Sam Groth will be relieved to finally get his season going by beating Victor Estrella-Burgos 6-3, 6-2. The Australian had not won since his opening match at the Australian Open, but his win put to a end a run of seven straight losses (including Challengers). Groth will have his work cut out in the next round, as he faces perhaps the star name of 2016 in Austrian Dominic Thiem.
American Rajeev Ram continued his fine season, defeating Evgeny Donskoy 7-5, 7-6 to move into the second round. He will face Tomas Berdych. Fernando Verdasco will join him, as the former Grand Slam semi-finalist defeated Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller in straight sets 7-6, 6-3.
Lucas Pouille progressed, erasing an early break for Teymuraz Gabashvili before winning 7-5, 6-3. There was disappointment for a highly-regarded prospect though as Andrey Rublev fell to defeat against Inigo Cervantes 6-4, 6-2 in just over one hour. Rublev failed to make much headway against the Cervantes serves, as the Spaniard dropped just a single point in the match when he landed the first serve.
Dennis Novikov was the first of the home contingent to fall, as the qualifier was beaten 6-1, 7-6 by Dusan Lajovic. Novikov played a poor first set, but retrieved a break late in the second to force a tiebreak, only for the Serbian to win seven-five. Lajovic will face 2014 US Open Champion Marin Cilic in the second round.
