No. 3 seed Taylor Fritz advanced at the Miami Open on a day that saw several of his fellow Americans ousted from the Masters 1000-level tournament.
On what was a tough day for the host country on both the men’s and women’s sides, Fritz defeated Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 7-5, 6-3 on Monday to bring some cheer for U.S. fans and set up a meeting with Australian lucky loser Adam Walton in the round of 16.
Fritz’s countrymen were not as fortunate, with Frances Tiafoe losing 7-6 (11), 5-7, 6-2 to France’s Arthur Fils, and Reilly Opelka falling 7-6 (1), 6-3 to Czechia’s Tomas Machac in their third-round matches.
Fils will face top seed Alexander Zverev in the fourth round after the German beat Australia’s Jordan Thompson 7-5, 6-4.
In other results on the men’s side, Alex De Minaur overcame a third-set service break and a crowd enthusiastically backing his Brazilian opponent to take out teenager Joao Fonseca 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 in a barnburner under the lights.
Fonseca was swinging out of his shoes — at one point literally — as he crushed his booming forehand, whipping up the crowd after securing an early break in the deciding set.
But the speedy Australian showed his toughness in difficult conditions, letting out a roar of his own when Fonseca found the net on match point.
“I told myself it’s going to be a battle not only against the player but the crowd,” De Minaur told Tennis TV. “Just put your head down, do your work and try to compete for every single point.”
Also on Monday, Jakub Mensik topped Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-4, and Italian 29th seed Matteo Berrettini defeated Belgium’s Zizou Bergs 6-4, 6-4.
Reuters contributed to this report.
