Taylor Fritz and Jannik Sinner win early to book last eight spots in Miami

ATP Tour

James Richardson
March 28, 2023

Jannik Sinner was the first man to book a place in the last eight of the Miami Open followed by home hope Taylor Fritz.

Sinner traded bombs with Andrey Rublev for a 6-2, 6-4 victory that saw him through to the quarter-finals in Miami for the third straight season.

Fritz got over an early gripe with the umpire to blow past Holger Rune and into the last eight.

Sinner said that his match was tougher than it looked as he had to deal with the power of Rublev.

He chose to fight fire with fire and quickly overwhelmed Rublev.

“We just tried to play with the right tactics, you know, playing bombs against bombs. It’s never easy,” Sinner said.

“Playing against Andrey is never easy. He serves very well and he plays very aggressive, so I had to change a little bit today. For sure, my level was great, I felt good on court, so hopefully I can keep it up in the next round.”

Sinner appeared to have the superior game plan on the day but he quickly closed down any discussion about his tactics.

“I don’t talk about tactics because … I don’t want to, but, for sure … trying to stay aggressive more than him was today, for sure,” he said.

Fritz meanwhile felt that Rune was a step down in power from his last two opponents and he enjoyed being able to dictate the pace.

“I couldn’t play aggressively in my first two matches because my opponents were hitting every ball as hard as they could. [Rune] still crushes the ball but it was nice to feel I had some more time,” Fritz said.

“The first two rounds, it was impossible to play my game, I just had to make balls. Today when I got the chance to be aggressive I was and I just wanted to serve well and try not to give him many free points.”

Fritz believes he is idling at high revs these days, claiming that he doesn’t always need to play his best tennis to come out on top.

“I think my average level of tennis is a lot higher,” Fritz said. “I don’t need to always show up and play my best and if I don’t play my best, that level is higher than it used to be. I feel I can come through and win a lot of matches.”

Fritz will face either compatriot Tommy Paul or world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals.

Sinner will take on either Botic van de Zandschulp or Emil Ruusuvuori.

Jannik Sinner Taylor Fritz