A first for Gaston
Hugo Gaston had for the first time pointed the tip of his nose in the table of a Masters 1000 at Bercy, last fall, following a magnificent Roland Garros. At the time, he had bowed at the outset to Pablo Carreno Busta. But this Wednesday in Miami, the 162nd player in the world made short work of Dominik Köpfer in the first round (6/1 6/4) to sign his first victory in a Masters 1000. The very promising Italian Jannik Sinner l ‘ wait for the next round.
Building on the momentum of his great week in Marseille which saw him reach the final of the Open 13, Pierre-Hugues Herbert once again showed full confidence on Wednesday. ‘PHH’ largely dominated the Portuguese Pedro Sousa (6-1, 6-3), 111th player in the world and who participated in his first Masters 1000. In the next round, the Alsatian will face the semi-finalist of the 2019 edition, Felix Auger -Aliassime.
Mixed results for the Blue
Kristina Mladenovic and Fiona Ferro won’t be enjoying the Florida sun any longer, at least not on the courts at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The first did not resist the American slugger Danielle Collins by losing 6/3 6/3. The second gave China’s Saisai Zheng a long fight. Fiona Ferro, 44th in the world, finally had to admit defeat after more than 2h30 of match (6/2 4/6 6/2), against a player who had started the year 2021 with five defeats in the first round.
Alizé Cornet found color again on Wednesday by overthrowing the very experienced Svetlana Kuznetsova. Dominated in the first round, the Niçoise then went it alone to win in 2h11 of play (2/6 6/2 6/1). She will have a lot to do in the next round against Petra Kvitova. Caroline Garcia, she offered a walk in front of Mihaela Buzarnescu she easily dismissed (6/1 6/2), to find another Romanian much tougher in the next round, the world number 3, Simona Halep.
A tournament shunned by the top 15?
On the sheet, there are many absent. And not the least. This is the first time in seventeen years that Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic do not play a Masters 1000 in the final draw. The Spaniard is injured in the back. The Swiss and the Serbs, for their part, preferred to stay with their families, rather than having to undergo a heavy health protocol. In total, five members of the top 10, half of the top 15 and 32 players of the top 100 have also given up on the tournament, including Dominic Thiem (4th) and Stanislas Wawrinka (21st). On the French side, Gaël Monfils (14th), Richard Gasquet (5th), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (66th), Gilles Simon (69) and Corentin Moutet (74th) are not on the trip either.
Among the ladies, only a top 20 player, Serena Williams, is not in the game. The American withdrew last weekend, “due to recent oral surgery“, she explained in a statement. A blow for the tournament.
Injuries and health conditions played a major role in this wave of forfeits. But money is no stranger to it either. This year, the winner will walk away with $ 300,110, against 1,354,000 in 2019 … a drop of about 80%. A decision which was not however enough to demotivate Daniil Medvedev (2nd), Stéfanos Tsitsipas (5th), Alexander Zverev (7th), Andrey Rublev (8th) and Diego Schwartzman (9th), very present in the tournament.
With Jean-Baptiste Lautier
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