Miami Gardens, Fla. Aryna Sabalenka, the world number one, reached the round of 16 of the Miami Open after Elena-Gabriela Rouge retired with an injury.
“I feel so bad for him. I wish him a speedy recovery. He’s a warrior,” Sabalenka said in her postmatch on-court interview. “I hope he gets better soon. It’s hard to say anything about this match. Thank you for coming and for the support. I love all these posters and T-shirts.”
Sabalenka, who was beaten by Miami Fresh in last week’s Indian Wells final, tied the first set 1-1 against the Romanian rouge before retiring with a right knee injury.
On behalf of three-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka, American and defending Miami Open champion Danielle Collins and Swiss qualifier Rebecca Masarova will face off at the Grandstand on Saturday night.
On Saturday, Naomi Osaka cruised to a 6-6 (3), 6-4, 6-4 victory over American wild card Haley Baptiste, while Italian Jasmine Paolini, seeded 7th, was left with a left foot injury.
Third seed Coco Gauff also advanced to the 1st round with a 2-2, 4-5 win over Maria Sakkari of Greece.
On the men’s side, top seed Alexander Zverev advanced to the third round with a 2-2, 4-5 win over Jacob Ferey. Dominating from the baseline, Zverev looked comfortable against the British qualifier, saving two break points he faced during the 745-minute match.
Javerov’s victory, after a first-round defeat at Indian Wells, gave him a German-record 7th Masters 3 victory over Tommy Hash. He will now face Australian Jordan Thompson.
“A kind of happy Indian wells have developed some things where I don’t feel good on the court. I don’t think I played well,” Zverev told reporters. “Hopefully this is the first of many matches for me and I can continue to play well.”
Hong Kong wild card Coleman Wang stunned 13th-seeded Ben Shelton, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 7-6 (5), as Denis Shapovalov and American third-seeded Berez Fritz won on Saturday afternoon and met in the third round.
However, the night was stolen by the show. Indian Wells champion Jack Draeger, the number one seed, crashed out, falling, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3) to Czech Zákab Meníček. And then the number 7 seed lost to Russian Andrey Rublev, 5-5, 4-4. Finally, Italian Matteo Berrettini beat France’s formidable Gaston in three sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Earlier on Saturday, Riley Opelka defeated Denmark’s Holler Rune and this week’s losses to Drager, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev mean that Indian Wells is out of the semi-finals in Miami.
This report used data from Reuters.
