Italy’s Jannick Sinner the no. 21 seed faced Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz the 26th seed for the Miami Masters 1000 title. It would be the first title at that level for the winner.

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The first set would be decided by a tiebreaker after Sinner was not able to serve it out at 6-5.

Sinner mishit a forehand to go down 4-2 in the tiebreaker. Another error saw Hurkacz with two serves to take the first set.

A well placed first serve setup a set point, he looked to have taken the set but hit just long.

Sinner save a second set point with a deep backhand that forced an error.

A long rally took place at 4-6 and it was Sinner that cracked when he hit a forehand wide to concede the opening set.

The Pole broke in the first game of the second set to move closer to collecting his first Masters trophy and the first for a male Polish player.

Hurkacz would hold to consolidate the early break.

A backhand into the net by Sinner gave the Pole two more break points for a 3-0 lead.

Hurkacz needed just one as he moved his way to the net and hit a volley that Sinner was not able to get back.

The title looked likely to be won by the Pole after he held to love for a 4-0 lead.

Unforced errors were hurting the Italian and he faced another break point at 30-40. He would save that before another error gave Hurkacz another look. The Pole would miss wide to lose that opportunity.

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A shot over the baseline gave Sinner the Ad, he would hold serve after a Sinner shot that was close to the baseline was hit long by Hurkacz, the world no. 37.

A little loss in concentration by the Pole saw Sinner holding two break points at 15-40 in the sixth game. More power hitting from Sinner forced an error and he broke. It was now 2-4.

The world no. 31 was now on a roll as he held serve to love to see Hurkacz serving next at 4-3, still up a break.

The Pole got back on track with a hold for 5-3. A sinner hold that followed forced Hurkacz to serve for the championship.

Sinner just missed a down the line shot that would have been a winner to see Hurkacz win the opening point.

Some powerful groundshots from the Pole set himself up for a volley that he hit into the open court.

An unforced error from Hurkacz when he hit into the net saw the score at 30-15, it was 30-30 after the Pole hit long. The pressure was mounting.

A forehand long by Sinner saw his opponent with a match point. It took just one after Sinner missed a forehand wide.

It was an unexpected champion, but well deserved.

Hurkacz jumps 21 places to no. 16 in the rankings, Sinner is at no. 23 after a jump of eight places.

“Last year I spent here almost half a year,” Hurkacz said in an on-court interview. “I was practising in the hottest weather during the spring and summer here, so I think that helped me a lot playing now in Florida, especially in these pretty tough conditions here, because it was a little bit slow here. The wind was blowing from side to side sometimes, so it’s huge.”

“Well, I made some unforced errors. I made a few or a couple of mistakes in the tie-break. Then I was not serving well, especially in the beginning of the second set, and not returning deep enough,” Sinner said.

Either Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz or Italy’s Jannik Sinner will walk away with their first ATP Master 1000 title on Sunday US time.

Both have advanced to their maiden final at the 1000 level after wins over higher ranked opponents.

First it was Sinner that defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 to join an illustrious group of teens to reach a Miami final. He is the fourth teenager to reach the final along with Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadl and Novak Djokovic.

All of that group have been no. 1.

In the second semifinal Hurkacz upset the world no. 8 Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-4.

“It means a lot, especially after winning a title at the beginning of the year, I had a couple of rough matches,” Hurkacz said in his on-court interview. “So I’m so happy that I came over and I was still trying to improve my game and trying to be a better player. This is really huge for me.”

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Australia’s Alexei Popryin took on Daniil Medvedev, the world no. 2 and top seed in Miami for a place in the fourth round.

Games went with serve and neither player faced a break point early in the match.

At 5-5 Medvedev earned his first break point when Popyrin netted a backhand. Popyrin, from the second serve forced the issue and got an error from Medvedev as the Russian hit wide.

Some good play at the net saw Popyrin go to Ad. He was 6 of 7 at the net after that point.

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Popyrin was ahead 0-30 at 5-6 with Medvedev serving. The world no. 86 then missed three straight shots before a winner from the top seed took the set into a tiebreaker.

A big serve wide again forced an error from Medvedev as the Russian returned long.

Popyrin dropped the first point on serve with a weak backhand that went wide. Medvedev then netted a shot for 1-1.

Another error from Popyrin off the backhand had it at 1-2.

A good point from Popyrin made Medvedev come up with a great passing shot as he whipped a forehand crosscourt for 3-1.

It was then quickly 4-1. Another backhand hit wide by Popyrin and the Russian surged to 5-1.

A forehand into the net from Medvedev made it 2-5 with The Australian serving. A long rally followed with Popyin lifting his intensity. It would end with Medvedev hitting a down the line forehand just wide.

The next rally was a bad one for Popyrin. He hit a good serve and Medvedev hit a floating return. Popyrin seemed to misjudge the bounce, or was thinking it was going long, but he had an air swing and the ball landed in.

At 6-3, the Russian needed just one set point as Popyrin hit a backhand return into the net.

Low first serve percentage for Medvedev, but still takes the first set

The world no. 2 had served at just 40% in the opening set but still won 93% of first serve points. Popyrin was serving at 62% for 68% of first serve points won.

Medvedev was serving first in the second set and held to love in game one.

At 30-30 in the next game Medvedev hit a great running backhand that he whipped cross court for the winner. It took some big hitting from Popyrin that finally forced an error to save the break point.

Another break point was on offer after the next point when Popyrin attempted to serve and volley. The return was at Popyrin’s toes and he missed the volley.
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A big serve saved another break point. A third for the game came after Popyrin hit into the net after a couple of shots.

He saved another in style. A big forehand setup an easy put away volley. Ad was Popyrin’s after Medvedev attempted a drop shot that went into the net.

Popyrin was working hard to stay in the next point but eventually would hit into the net. It was deuce again. A wide Ace, which was his first for the match got Ad again for Popyrin after an eight minute service game.

Much to the relief of Popyrin, Medvedev hit a service return long for 1-1.

Popyrin let a 40-15 lead slip and after three errors he faced a break point. This time the Russian converted after stretching Popying on the volley, it sat up for Medvedev to hit a winner for 3-1.

Medvedev would consolidate the break for 4-1 after holding to love.

Popyrin came back from 0-30 to hold and have the Russian serving at 4-2.

Another comfortable service hold had Medvedev one game from a round four appearance.

A double fault from the Russian saw Popyrin jump to 0-30. A big forehand winner made it 0-40. Popyrin ran around a forehand for a huge winner to break.

In the next game Popyrin fell behind after opening with a double fault and a forehand hit wide. A Popyrin shanked forehand gave the Russian three match points.

The Australian fought back with an Ace out wide. Another good first serve saw Medvedev hit well long on the return.

With Medvedev stepping into the court for a forehand and looking in control, teh Russian hit long. Popyrin then came to the net and hit several great volleys to force the error for Ad.

After a long rally it was the Russian that cracked, he hit into the net and it was 5-5.

A love hold saw the pressure back on Popyrin. This time he would come from 0-15 to hold and send the match into a second tie breaker.

Medvedev opened the serving and Popyrin found a nice angle to push Medvedev wide on the backhand. He looked awkward as he hit into the net.

A forehand winner saw Popyrin out to 2-0. Popyrin was now forcing the issue and moved to 3-0 after some big hitting.

Medvedev hit a second serve let before serving again. Popyrin hit a backhand into the net for 1-3 with the Russian serving.

A Popyrin unforced error on the service return saw Popyrin serving at 3-2.

A wide shot to the Medvedev backhand forced him to lob. It was easily put away by the Australian who now was up 4-2.

Medvedev ripped a forehand that Popyrin then hit into the net and it was back on serve.

A big first serve had Popyrin on the stretch and the ball sat up for Medvedev to smash into the stands.

Medvedev went up 5-4 after some big hitting from Popyrin, but the Australian would eventually hit into the net.

A second serve from Popyrin was returned into the net for 5-5. A great wide serve saw Popyrin take position at the net to volley for 6-5.

A forehand winner made it 6-6 with Medvedev serving.

Popyrin would have set point at 7-6 but double faulted. Another set point came after Medvedev hit long.

This time Medvedev was serving but Popyrin hit a forehand winner to take the set.

Popyrin can’t land knockout blow

The final set went on serve until the seventh game when Medvedev got the break to lead 4-3. The Russian was now suffering from cramps and it remained to be seen if he could hold on.

Popyrin was not able to break back despite Medvedev struggling big time. The Russian would go for his shots but Popyrin didn’t take advantage of weak serves.

An example was when he completely mishit a serve that was just rolled into court, that conceded the game to see the Russian at 5-3.

Popyrin in his next service game just had to pick a spot on court to place his serves and he won the point, it did however struggle to do that. In the end he held and Medvedev had to serve out the match.

Medvedev was almost unable to move but he found it in himself to hit balls with enough power to force Popyrin around the court.

Popyrin was only able to get balls back to Medvedev instead of moving him around. That allowed the world no. 2 to be able to hang tough and find a way to win the match.

Inexperience in this situation cost the Australian what would have been a huge victory. Instead Medvedev toughed it out and lifted just enough to take the match 7-6(3), 6-7(7), 6-4.

“It’s probably one of the sweetest victories in my career, because I was cramping like hell in the third set,” Medvedev said in an on-court interview. “It’s one thing when you’re cramping when you’re [ahead in the score], but I started cramping before. It was tough to think about the win in these conditions.

“At the same time, I should have won in two sets and we would not be talking about cramping. But anyway, we have the result on the board and I’m happy that I managed to go through all the difficulties of this definitely crazy match.”

After this result Popyrin sits at no. 81 in the live rankings. Depending on other results this would be a career-high ranking. There are still five players alive in the tournament that could bump him down.

Popyrin’s current career-high is no. 82. Popyrin is next due to play in the ATP 250 event in Marbella along with James Duckworth.

Australia’s Alexei Popyrin has claimed his first win on debut at the Miami Masters.

It is just his third Masters level tournament overall after losing in the first round at the Monte Carlo Masters in 2019 and the second round at the Indian Wells Masters, also in 2019.

A recent maiden title winner at the Singapore ATP 250, the 21-year-old eliminated the oldest player in the draw, Spain’s Feliciano Lopez is 39-years-old.

“It was a very difficult match,” Popyrin told ATPTour.com. “Feli is a very tough player. He has an unbelievable serve, so when I had my chances to break I was putting all of my focus on the break points. There was no rhythm in the match, so not many rallies, but I am happy with the way I was mentally. There were a couple of shaky moments here and there, but I hung in to win.”

Popyrin made the most of a poor service game from his opponent at 4-5 with the Spaniard handing the set to his opponent with a double fault at 0/40.

Lopez looked to be on his way to levelling the match at a set a piece after breaking for a 6-5 lead in the second set.

After losing the first point of the breaker, Popyrin won five straight points to take control of the situation. He would seal the 6-4, 7-6(4) in 82 minutes.

Next up is the 30th seed from the USA, Reilly Opelka.

The powerful American is 2-5 in 2021 with a first round win over Sergiy Stakhovsky in the Melbourne tournament before the Australian Open.

Opelka defeated world no. 1009 in the opening round at the Australian Open before losing an epic five set battle against fellow American Taylor Fritz.

This will be the first meeting between Popyrin and Opelka. The American is into the second round off of a bye.

Australia’s other participant on day one of men’s action was James Duckworth, the world no. 104.

Duckworth made the 2015 Indian Wells and Miami Masters from qualifying and won his first round matches. They are his only Masters level tournaments throughout his career.

This time the 29-year-old Australian faced Germany’s Mischa Zverev, a qualifier in 2021.

At 33, the former world no. 25, Zverev has seen his ranking slip to no. 280. He is now more often a hitting partner to his younger brother Alexander the no 3 seed in Miami.

Zverev was 1-5 in Miami with his only win coming in 2019 when Nicola Kuhn, the then world no. 255 retired at 2-2 in the third set.

Duckworth took the match 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory to set up a second-round showdown with No.8 seed David Goffin.

The Australian let a few match points slip before finally seeing a wide shot that Zverev decided not to volley land on the line. It was a bad decision by the German.

The match between Goffin and Duckworth is their first meeting.

World no. 13 Goffin is 9-6 in 2021 and won the ATP 250 title in Montpellier at the end of February.

To complete the men’s opening round we see three Australians in action.

Chris O’Connell (AUS) v Joao Sousa (POR)
Jordan Thompson (AUS) v Federico Delbonis (ARG)
[Q] Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) v [Q] Shintaro Mochizuki (JPN)