Sebastian Korda cruised past Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-1 6-1 in 1 hour and 11 minutes to advance to the second round at the Miami Open.
Last year Korda reached the quarter final on his debut at the Masters 1000 tournament in Miami when he was ranked 87 in the ATP Rankings.
Korda broke twice in the fourth and sixth games to win the first set 6-1. After a trade of breaks in the first two games, Korda won five consecutive games with three breaks.
“I played some long points. It was pretty warm out there, so I am super happy to get through. I made him run around a bit. I think I did a good job on that today and I am super happy with the way I played. I made the quarter finals last year and ever since I was a little kid, I came to this tournament. Now to be able to compete myself, I think little Sebi would be very happy”, said Korda.
Korda arrives in Miami after a good tournament in Indian Wells, where he beat Thanasi Kokkinakis before losing to Rafael Nadal in three sets.
Korda set up Albert Ramos Vinolas in their first head-to-head match.
Jenson Brooksby came back from one set down to beat Federico Coria 3-6 6-2 6-3. Coria earned two breaks in the third and ninth games to close out the first set 6-3.
Brooksby opened up a 4-1 lead with two breaks in the third and fifth games. Coria pulled one break back in the sixth game, but Brooksby broke for the third time in the seventh game to win the second set 6-2.
Both players traded breaks in the first two games of the third set. Brooksby won three consecutive games to take a 4-1 lead with two breaks. Coria pulled one back back in the sixth game for 2-4. Brooksby broke for the fourth time in the seventh game to take a 5-2 lead. Coria got one break back for the second time at love in the eighth game. Brooksby sealed the third set with another break at love in the ninth game.
The young US rising star has climbed from outside the top 300 to a career-high of world number 39 since the beginning of 2021 after reaching reaching two ATP Tour finals in Newport in 2021 and Dallas 2022. Earlier this year he scored his first top 5 win against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells before losing to Cameron Norrie in the Round of 16. Last year Brooksby lost to Novak Djokovic in four sets in the Round of 16 at the US Open last September.
Brooksby set up a second round match against Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Alexei Popyrin battled past Lorenzo Musetti 7-5 7-6 (7-5) in 1 hour and 53 minutes. Popyrin saved a break point in the third game of the first set. Both players held serve until the 12th game before Popyrin converted his second break point to seal the first set 7-5.
Musetti earned an early break in the first game of the second set to take a 4-2 lead. Popyrin broke back in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4. Popyrin saved a break point in a 14-points 11th game at 5-5. Musetti rallied from 15-40 down and saved two match points to hold serve in the 12th game. Musetti earned a mini-break to take a 2-0 lead, but Popyrin won three consecutive points to take a 3-2 lead. Popyrin earned three more match points at 6-3. Musetti saved the first two match points, but Popyrin sealed the win on his third chance, when the young Italian sent a forehand passing shot wide.