American Steve Johnson took care of business to defeat young German Alexander Zverev 7-6, 7-6 in the second round of the Miami Masters.
Johnson had suffered an indifferent start to the year, with early losses in Brisbane, Auckland, and Acapulco, but looks right back in form after edging the teenager Zverev in two tiebreaks. In a first set featuring no breaks of serve, Johnson looked the more comfortable, missing two break opportunities and affording Zverev no chances to break. Johnson surrendered an early lead in the breaker, but eventually persevered, winning eleven-nine.
The second serve provided much of the same, though this time in the resulting tiebreak Johnson, after earning the early lead, did not relinquish it, and moved into the third round with an impressive straight sets win.
He will face Tomas Berdych after the Czech received a walkover from Rajeev Ram, with the American suffering from illness.
Yoshihito Nishioka earned his fourth win in a row at the tournament, as the qualifier produced an excellent display to oust veteran twenty-first seed Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4. Jeremy Chardy was also a early victim in the first round that saw seeds compete, as the Frenchman was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Fernando Verdasco.
Lucas Pouille also snagged a good win by defeating thirty-second seed Guillermo Garcia Lopez 6-4, 6-2.
Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem, Gilles Simon, David Goffin, and Benoit Paire all earned straight sets victories, as most seeds progressed in orderly fashion.
The only exceptions in terms of victorious seeds were Joao Sousa and Viktor Troicki. Sousa was two points from defeat before eventually winning against Canada’s Vasek Pospisil 6-7, 7-6, 6-2. Troicki went a step beyond even Sousa, as he was forced to save multiple match points against Inigo Cervantes, winning 6-7, 7-6, 7-6.
Kei Nishikori, Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, and Andy Murray are in action on Saturday. John Isner, who has an excellent record in American Masters events, starts against Tim Smyczek, with Grigor Dimitrov also beginning his quest to find form against Federico Delbonis.
Denis Kudla waits to find out his opponent as there is still some doubt as to Milos Raonic’s involvement following his injury in the final of Indian Wells. Should Raonic be unable to take to the court, a number of losers in the final round of qualifying would look to emulate Horacio Zeballos’ win against Juan Martin Del Potro. They include James Ward, Noah Rubin, Alexander Sarkissian, and Grega Zemlja.
