Alexander Zverev fought back from a break down in the first set to beat Christopher Eubanks 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 to reach the fourth round at the Miami Open.
Zverev made 78% of his first serve points and won 13 of 16 points on his second serve. The 2021 Olympic champion saved four of the five break points he faced.
The match started with three love holds in the first four games. Eubanks did not convert a break point in the sixth game, but he broke serve in the eighth game at deuce to take a 5-3 lead. Eubanks was not able to close out the set as Zverev broke straight back in the ninth game after a double fault from Eubanks and held serve at 30 to draw level to 5-5. Zverev earned a mini-break to take a 3-2 lead. Eubanks pulled back on serve to draw level to 3-3. Zverev won the final three points to win the tie-break 7-4 on his first set point.
Zverev earned an early break in the second game and held serve at 15 to take a 3-0 lead. The German player held serve at love to race out to a 4-1 lead.
Eubanks did not convert three break points in the final game before Zverev closed out the match with a volley into the open court.
“It was a difficult match. I thought he was in control of it throughout the first set. I was just hanging on and sometimes that is just what you need to do. He came out swinging and did not give me chances to be aggressive. I tried to mix it up from the baseline. I was surprised how well he was playing from the baseline, not giving me many unforced errors. He makes a lot but usually misses a lot but today he was not missing especially through some stages of the first set”, said Zverev.
Zverev set up a fourth round match against Karen Khachanov, who needed five match points to beat 2022 Miami Open semifinalist Francisco Cerundolo 6-1 5-7 7-6 (7-5) after 2 hours and 47 minutes. Khachanov reached the Round of 16 of a Masters 1000 tournament for the 20th time in his career. Khachanov broke serve in the third game to a 2-1 lead. The Russian player earned two more breaks in the fifth and seventh games to win the first set 6-1 in 33 minutes. The second set went on serve until the 11th game when Cerundolo earned a break to take a 6-5 lead. The Argentine player served out the second set at love.
Cerundolo converted his second break point in the first game to take a 1-0 lead. Khachanov broke straight back at deuce to draw level to 1-1. Both players went on serve until the 12th game when Cerundolo saved two match points. Khachanov went up a 3-0 lead in the tie-break with two-mini-breaks. Cerundolo pulled one of the two mini-breaks back. Khachanov opened up a 5-1 lead with another mini-break. Cerundolo saved two more match points for 5-6, but Khachanov sealed the tie-break 7-5 on his fifth match point. Khachanov repeated his win over the Argentine player in the Miami quarter finals last year.
Zverev will face Khachanov for the first time since the Olympic final in Tokyo 2021, where Zverev won in straight sets to claim the gold medal. Zverev leads 3-2 in his five head-to-head matches against Khachanov.
Fabian Maroszan beat Alexei Popyrin 7-5 6-3. Popyrin started the match with an early break at love in the first game to take a 1-0 lead. Maroszan broke back in the second game to draw level to 1-1. Popyrin saved a total of three break points in the fourth and sixth games before breaking serve in the 12th game to seal the first set 7-5.
Maroszan converted his second break point in the fourth game and saved fourth break point to hold serve after four deuces to open up a 4-1 lead. The Hungarian player served out the win on his first match point.
Maroszan has only advanced from the Round of 16in his previous three apperances at a Masters 1000 tournament.
