Kouame, another teenage phenom, wins first Tour match

MIAMI GARDENS – A few hours before 45-year-old Venus Williams was battling on the Grandstand court at the Miami Open on a beautiful Thursday afternoon, 17-year-old Moise Kouame was making history on an outside court.

Sacrebleu! The kid from Paris, who was making his ATP Tour-level debut — thanks to a wild card — outlasted Californian qualifier Zachary Svajda 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 to become the youngest male player to win a match in Miami and the youngest to claim an ATP Masters 1000 victory since Spanish legend Rafael Nadal did it in 2003. Kouame also became the first player born in 2009 or later to win an ATP Tour match.

At 3-4, 0-40 of the second set, Kouame collapsed with cramps but got up and reeled off 14 of the next 16 points, while saving 10 of 12 break points. Afterward, in his first professional press conference, the affable, 6-foot-3 young man wanted to talk about a congratulatory text he received from his idol.

“I’ve only read one message for now and it’s from a really important person to me,’’ said Kouame, a wild-card recipient who was a runner-up in the Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships in nearby Plantation in 2024. “[Novak Djokovic] texted me something really, really nice.

“Even after tough matches, you still need to think about the next one, to think about training after. I feel like I’m a little bit on that mindset. I won today but tomorrow I have another match. So the most important thing for me is to recover well and to be ready for the next one.”

Kouame, ranked No. 385, is the youngest player ranked in the Top 900, and next plays tough Czech Jiri Lehecka, seeded 21st.

The mature teen was asked if this tournament can be a life-changer as it was for Carlos Alcaraz in 2022 or Jakub Mensik last year, as well as Alexandra Eala.

“I’m not thinking about if I can do something in the future,’’ said Kouame, who won two ITF tournaments in France this year and trains with the French Tennis Federation. “I’m just thinking about the present, which is recovering, you know?”

Kouame said it’s not enough to be the best at his age.

“I have to work even harder,’’ he said. “I want to do something even bigger. I want to win the title, but this will come only by working mentally and physically. This is the first step.”

He was asked if he could imagine playing at 45 as Venus Williams did today.

“No. I’m 17,’’ said Kouame, sporting a smile that lit up the interview room.

Miami Open champ loses

In a tough day for Polish stars, Hubert Hurkacz fell to young American Ethan Quinn 6-2, 6-4, and for the second time this year, having lost to him in the Australian Open.

Hurkacz, who won the Miami Open singles in 2021 and the doubles in 2022, has fallen on hard times in dealing with a couple of knee surgeries over the past two years.

“I didn’t feel my best and need to check some stuff out,’’ Hurkacz said. “I couldn’t really serve today as the [injury] affected my game. The last few matches I’m not playing good tennis, having issues and not feeling my best out there. It’s been tricky.

“He’s a great player, a great guy with a very good forehand and also serves powerful. He’s winning some good matches recently.”

“It feels really, really good getting to win over such an accomplished player,’’ Quinn said. “I know it was going to be tough going into that match knowing that I’ve beaten him in Australia. It’s never fun losing to the same guy twice. I knew he’s going to come out there with a little different game plan.

“I played aggressive and played really well.”

Miami fan favorite Grigor Dimitrov, 34, who reached the semis last year but needed help leaving  the court due to severe dehydration in the loss to Djokovic, lost a tight 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 match to Belgian Raphael Collignon – who was making his Miami debut. Dimitrov lost the 2024 final to Jannik Sinner.

American Reilly Opelka advanced as did young American Darwin Blanch.

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