Casper Ruud is looking to kickstart his season in Miami after winning his opening round against Ilya Ivashka 6-2 6-3.
The Norwegian has yet to win back-to-back matches this season as he has struggled for form after an outstanding 2022 season.
Ruud will be hoping to break that pattern in Miami this week and made a good start with a convincing victory over Ivashka.
The world number four encountered similar problems last year but produced an impressive tournament in Miami to reach his first Masters 1000 final.
That would kickstart Ruud’s season which saw him reach two Grand Slam finals and the final at the ATP Finals.
Now Ruud is hoping to do the same as he searches for Miami momentum this week, “I want to believe one match will turn it around but there are still a lot of matches to be played with a lot of good players left in the tournament,” Ruud told the ATP website.
“It’s been almost two weeks since I’ve played a match after taking an early loss in Indian Wells. I worked hard and came into Miami with great memories from last year.
“Last year I won’t say I turned around my year here because I won Buenos Aires, but then I had an injury that kept me out for two to three weeks and then I lost early in Indian Wells.
“When people asked about my expectations I said I just wanted to have a good finish to the hard-court season and I made the final. So I’m just going to try to win some matches again, not think about what [points] I have to defend and just try to get some momentum.”
Ruud, who is now 5-5 for the season, will look to win back-to-back matches for the first time this season when he takes on 26th seed Botic Van De Zandschulp on Sunday.
Zverev Stunned, Rune and Dimitrov Advance
However one top seed wasn’t so lucky to advance in Miami as Alexander Zverev suffered a crushing 6-0 6-4 defeat to Taro Daniel.
Daniel earned his second top 20 win of the season over an underwhelming Zverev, who will now head to the clay court season.
There was also wins for Holger Rune and Grigor Dimitrov respectively although the latter had to come from a set down to beat Jan-Lennard Struff in three sets.
Holger Rune will now play 31st seed Diego Schwartzman while Grigor Dimitrov sets up a mouth-watering clash with 10th seed Jannik Sinner.
