Qualifier Varvara Gracheva clinched her first top 5 win against two-time Grand Slam champion Ons Jabeur by the scoreline of 6-2 6-2 in 1 hour and 11 minutes in the second round at the Miami Open. 

Gracheva played her first career WTA singles final at Austin last March reaching her career-high of world number 54. Earlier this year she beat world number 8 Daria Kasatkina at the Australian Open and at Indian Wells. 

“The plan was to be as stable as possible, to make her work as much points as possible, and of course wait for comfortable ones to attack”, said Gracheva. 

Jabeur is coming back from a knee injury and played just three matches since the Australian Open. She had to miss the Middle East swing last February. The Tunisian player lost to Marketa Vondrousova on her return in Indian Wells. 

Jabeur received medical visits from the medical trainer during the second set. She earned her only break after the medical time-out at 3-0, but Gracheva broke back for 4-2. 

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova cruised past Adelaide 1 finalist Linda Noskova 6-3 6-0 in just 67 minutes. Kvitova converted six of her ten break points. 

Noskova earned an early break in the first game, but Kvitova broke straight back to draw level to 1-1. Kvitova closed out the first set with a second break in the ninth game. Kvitova took a bagel win in the second set with three breaks of serve. 

Kvitova set up a third-round match against Donna Vekic. The Czech player leads 3-1 in her four previous head-to-head matches against Vekic. 

“It’s always challenging to play against somebody who is young and coming up, she has had great results. I managed to have a good level of my tennis. I tried to play aggressive, which was really the key. She can play aggressive and fast too, so I knew I would have to be the first player that’s going to push her a little bit”, said Kvitova. 

World number 97 Taro Daniel upset two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev 6-0 6-4 to reach the third round at the Miami Open. 

Zverev only scored six points in three of his service games in the opening set, where Daniel earned three breaks of serve. 

Daniel broke serve in the fifth game of the second set to take a 3-2 lead. Zverev did not earn a break point throughout the match. 

Daniel won just one tournament main draw match through the first two months of the 2023 season, has won six of the past eight ATP Tour matches and all four qualifying matches. 

Daniel had already beaten former top 10 player and 2021 Wimbledon Matteo Berrettini en route to the third round at Indian Wells before losing to Cameron Norrie in three sets. The Japanese player also beat Casper Ruud in the Round of 16 before losing to Alex De Minaur in the quarter final in Acapulco.

Daniel set up a third round match against Emil Ruusuvuori.

The Japanese player has improved his win-loss record to 8-4 this season. 

“In the first set he was struggling and I just did not want to let him get his rhythm back. Sometimes it’s a matter of letting them keep playing badly. It’s a little bit of dirty fight. Sometimes you don’t know why things turn around and you have success. You keep rolling and it just happens. My plan is to keep accumulating more and more of these wins consistently”, said Daniel. 

Zverev, who is on a come-back trail from a serious injury at last year’s Roland Garros, reached the Dubai semifinal before losing to Andrey Rublev  6-3 7-6 (11-9) and lost to Danil Medvedev 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 in three sets at Indian Wells. 

Holger Rune saved the only break point he faced in his 6-3 7-5 win over Marton Fucsovics. 

Rune broke twice in the third game of the first set. The Dane earned his second break in the ninth game to win the opening set 6-3, as Fucsovics committed a double fault on set point. He rushed the net frequently in the first set and hit volleys. 

Rune hit a few inside-out forehands and earned the decisive break in the final game of the match, as Fucsovics hit a volley winner on the match point. Fucsovics was not able to convert his only break point of the match. 

Jannik Sinner made a winning start to his Miami Open with a 6-4 6-2 win over world number 58 Laslo Djere after 88 minutes on Court Butch Bucholz  to reach the third round at the Hard Rock Stadium. Sinner won his 17^th match this season. 

Sinner won six consecutive games from 3-4 down to build up a 6-4 3-0 lead and the final three games from 3-2 to close out the second set. 

Sinner earned his first break point at deuce in the second game of the first set. Djere broke in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead, but Sinner pulled back on serve to draw level to 4-4. Sinner closed out the first set 6-4 with his second break in the 10^thgame. 

Sinner converted his fourth break point in the second game to open up a 3-0 lead. Djere broke back in the fifth game for 2-3. Sinner earned two consecutive breaks in the sixth and eighth games to close out the second set 6-2. Sinner finished runner-up to Hubert Hurkacz in the Miami final in 2021 and reached the quarter final in last year’s edition

Sinner converted 5 of his 10 break points to improve his seasonal record against top 50 opponents to 13-0. 

Sinner and Djere are 2-2 split in their four head-to-head matches. Sinner won his previous meeting on hard court in Indian Wells 2022. 

Sinner set up a third round match against Grigor Dimitrov, who came back from one set down to beat Jan Lennard Struff 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4. 

Struff earned his first break in in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead and saved two break points in both the sixth and tenth games to win the first set 6-4. 

The second set went on serve en route to the tie-break. Dimitrov won four consecutive points from 3-5 down to clinch the tie-break 7-5. 

Dimitrov claimed the third set 6-4 with his only break in the fifth game. 

Carlos Alcaraz eased past Facundo Bagnis 6-0 6-2 in just 65 munues to continue his quest for the Sunshine Double after winning the Indian Wells title. 

Alcaraz is bidding to become the youngest player to win the Sunshine Double with his second consecutive title in Miami. 

Alcaraz will face either Maxime Cressy or Dusan Lajovic. 

“I knew that I needed to be focused for my first match. To start a new tournament is never easy. I have to be ready to get used to these new conditions, but I was really focused on the match from the beginning, and I am happy with the way that I played. I try to improve every day”, said Alcaraz. 

Andrey Rublev beat JJ Wolf 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 to reach the third round. Rublev dropped his serve in the first game, but he broke back in the 10^th game to draw level to 5-5. 

Rublev earned an immediate mini-break to open up a 2-0 lead. Wolf pulled one break back to draw level to 2-2. Rublev won four consecutive points to build up a 6-2. Wolf saved the first set point, but Rublev closed out the tie-break with his fourth mini-break. 

Rublev saved all five break points he faced in the second set and earned his decisive break in the seventh game to clinch the second set 6-4 improving his win -loss record to 12-7 this season. 

Rublev set up a third round match against either Miomir Kecmanovic or Ugo Humbert. 

Rublev has won 12 ATP titles, including five ATP 500 trophies, but he is still chasing his first Masters 1000 title. 

“It’s a great feeling, because I did not know what to expect and it was my first match here. I did not much time to adapt. I know he is dangerous, that he can play really well and really aggressive. As soon as we started to play I was losing, so it was not easy. At the end I was happy that I able to keep calm inside, and I was just waiting for my moment in the first set. As soon as I had the moment I was able to make it, and then I started to play a play better and I started to feel more confident”, said Rublev. 

Taylor Fritz eased past Emilio Nava 6-4 6-1. Fritz reeled off six consecutive points from 4-4 in the first set to build up a 6-4 3-0 lead. Nava had beaten former Miami champion John Isner in the opening round to clinch his second ATP Tour win.

Nava earned an early break in the opening game. Fritz pulled back on serve in the second game. Fritz sealed the first set 6-4 with his second break in the 10^th game. The US player broke twice in the second and fourth games to close out the second set 6-1. 

“Nava was basically going either clean winner or miss. It didn’t matter what shot I hit, so I felt like I just had to put as many balls in the court as possible and just hope that later on in the set, applying pressure at 5-4 up or if it were to go to 6-5, that he would not be able to just keep hitting winners”, said Fritz.