Canadian Next Gen player Denis Shapovalov had to dig deep to edge past Viktor Troicki 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (8-6) in 2 hours and 26 minutes to clinch the seventh Masters 1000 win of his career. Last year’s Montreal Masters 1000 semifinalist wasted five match points in the decisive set before saving a match point at 5-6 in the tie-break. Shapovalov will take on Damir Dzumhur in the second round.
Shapovalov won the first set 6-3. Troicki took the second-set tie-break by 7-4 to force the match to the decisive third set, as Shapovalov hit a shot into the net.
Shapovalov got his third break at love to open up a 3-1 lead with a forehand volley. The 18-year Canadian player broke serve at love again to win four games in a row from 1-1 to earn his chance to serve for the match.
Shapovalov failed to convert two match points at 5-1. Troicki recovered from 0-40 and three more match points in the 10th game to claw her way back to 5-5. Shapovalov saved a match point at 5-6 with a high forehand volley and reeled off the final three points to close out the tie-break on his sixth match point by 8-6.
The Canadian Next Gen player scored his third win in deciding-set tie-breaks at ATP level. In his previous decisive tie-breaks he beat Rafael Nadal in Montreal and Yuichi Sugita in Basel in 2017.
World Number 374 Yoshihito Nishioka beat Australian Next Gen player Alex de Minaur 6-2 6-4 after 1 hour and 16 minutes. The Japanese player is playing in Miami with a protected ranking after being sidelined for a long time by an injury.
Nishioka won 52 % of the points on de Minaur’s service games to break serve five times and dropped his serve from the four opportunities he faced.
Nishioka broke de Minaur three times in a row to win the opening set 6-2. De Minaur earned a break in the sixth game to open up a 4-2 lead, but Nishioka fought back by winning four consecutive games with two consecutive games in the seventh and ninth games and and a hold in the 10th game to seal the second set 6-4.
Nishioka will face 2010 Miami finalist Tomas Berdych. The Japanese player beat his Czech rival last year en route to reaching the fourth round at Indian Wells.
Spanish wild-card Nicola Kuhn beat Darian King from Barbados 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 in one hour and 42 minutes to set up a second round match against this year’s Sao Paulo Fabio Fognini.
