Americans Tiafoe and Paul roar into Miami Open quarterfinals

By Harvey Fialkov / Staff writer

MIAMI GARDENS – When American Sebastian Korda shocked the tennis world by taking out No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in the second round of the Miami Open last week, players on that side of the 96-player draw breathed a collective sigh of relief, and figured, ‘Hey, why not me?’

Among the top eight seeds on Alcaraz’s top half of the draw, only sixth-seeded Taylor Fritz, a semifinalist here last year, survived the first week. Tommy Paul, the 22^nd seed and Fritz’s  Davis Cup teammate, also resided there.

By early Tuesday afternoon both Fritz and the giant-killing No. 36 Korda were sent packing for the clay-court season after tough three-set losses to 151-ranked qualifier Martin Landaluce of Spain and 22-ranked Czechian Jiri Lehecka, respectively.

Of the five Americans that began the day in the sweet 16, Paul and No. 20 Frances Tiafoe, both living in nearby Boca Raton, will carry the stars and stripes banner into their Wednesday quarterfinals.

Young American Alex Michelsen gave No.2 Jannik Sinner a battle, but the cream rose at the right time in the Italian’s 7-5, 7-6 (4) victory, extending his ATP Masters streak of straight-set victories to 14 (28 sets). Michelsen was up 5-2 in the second set, but Sinner always came up with the money shot when he needed to.

“I’m trying to serve very well in important moments, and learning from the previous games,’’ said Sinner, the third man in tournament history to reach the quarterfinals in their first five appearances. “Trying to understand what works best in important moments. And I am also someone who likes to play these tiebreaks, 4-all, or 5-all. So, I try to raise my level in the most important parts and moments.”

For a while the Miami Open took on the feel of the French Open, with four Frenchmen playing their fourth-round matches Tuesday, the most here since 2016.

However, Tiafoe bid adieu to 24-year-old left-handed Frenchman Terence Atmane, achieving the critical break of serve at 4-5 of the third set. It culminated in a low backhand spinning volley as the raucous, foot-stomping crowd on the Grandstand roared its approval. Tiafoe followed with a trademark guttural scream of his own.

“An American playing in Miami, that’s how it should be,’’ he said. “I’m happy they were happy to see me get it done.”

For the second straight match, Tiafoe, 28, pulled a Houdini.On Monday, he saved two match points in his three-set victory over defending champion Jakub Mensik, and on Tuesday he was down serving 0-40, 4-4 in the third set against Atmane.

“Focus on the task at hand,” said Tiafoe, an Acapulco finalist last month. “Think about this point … not thinking about getting out of the hole. Just thinking about what I can do in the specific moment. It’s also about not making the moments bigger than they are, just try to focus on what it takes to win and not the win itself.”

His prize is a quarterfinal date with Sinner on Thursday, with his lone win in five attempts coming in the 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals.

“I feel confident,” said Tiafoe, who lost in the 2024 Cincinnati final in their last meeting. “Fear no man. Go out there and believe. Why not? He puts his socks and undies on like I do.”

Paul will draw 21-year-old, powerful Frenchman Arthur Fils in a Wednesday evening quarterfinal. Fils has yet to drop serve in his three matches in his second consecutive quarterfinal here. Fils was rolling last year until a back injury hindered his chances against eventual champion Mensik.

The flashy Frenchman is healed and hungry as his message scrawled on the camera lens following his 6-0, 6-1 dismantling of former world No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round indicates: “Game ain’t based on sympathy.”

“It’s when you’re stepping on the court,’’ Fils said. “It’s two men battling to win. So, it’s either him or me. I think there is no sympathy; it has to be me.”

Paul won their only meeting in 2023 in the Shanghai Masters when Fils was just 19.

“When you see a guy like Carlos (Alcaraz) go down, I think everyone kind of thinks it a little bit,” Paul said about the opportunity to advance, after Tuesday’s  6-1, 6-3 victory over Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry. “At least that part of the draw has somewhat opened up. But somebody had to beat Carlos, and they’re obviously playing pretty good also.

“I really just take it one match at a time. I knew in the last round I had to worry about [Raphael Collignon]; today I had to worry about Tomy, and tomorrow I got to worry about Fils.

“He’s one of my favorite players to watch. He’s electric, he’s super athletic and a really, really good player, and he’s young, like 21. He’s an exciting player, and I know it’s going to be a tough match. And if I play anything like I did today, we’ll have a great match.”

Korda, 25, could not follow up the most significant victory of his career with a win, but it wasn’t due to an Alcaraz hangover or a letdown. It was the oft-injured Florida native’s balky back that began aching at 6-2, 3-2 in the second set against 20-year-old qualifier Landaluce.

Suddenly, his 130-mph serves lost gas and gave Landaluce – a former No. 1 junior in the world – the foot in the door he needed to force a tiebreak.

Landaluce, the fifth qualifier to reach the Miami quarters and youngest since 1994, let out a huge, “Vamos” after winning the second set tiebreak,  Landaluce has trained for many years at Rafael Nadal’s academy in Mallorca.

After taking a medical to treat his back, Korda quickly fell behind 0-3 in the decisive set. He bravely caught up 4-5 but was broken when his weak backhand found the net.

“I was about a millimeter or an inch away from [an ace that was a let],’’ Korda said. “Otherwise, an hour-and-a-half ago, I would have been in the locker room, happy and recovering for my next match. But that’s the way tennis works. It’s not always perfect. It doesn’t always work out. I just got to keep on the path that you’re on and look for the best.

“I still made the fourth round here. Obviously, I had my best win of my career beating a world No. 1. So, there’s still a lot of confidence to take from. I’m not going to throw myself a pity party just because I lost after having a match point. There’s no point in that. I was in a worse place mentally after Australia than I am right now and excited for the rest of the year. Hopefully, the body stays healthy.”

Fritz felt he was playing well enough to take one more step than last year’s semifinal, but he ran into an opponent who was in the zone as Lehecka prevailed 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-4. Lehecka slugged 10 aces while saving all five breakpoints. He ripped 37 winners, including a perfect 12-of-12 volleys.

“There’s a couple things I could have done better, but I did well to take it to a third,’’ Fritz said. “He played great. I really didn’t do too much wrong. And you know, when that’s the way it is, I feel a lot less frustrated. It does suck because the draw obviously has opened, and it’s a great opportunity, but he played better than me. He deserved it.”

Landaluce will play Lehecka in a 3 pm quarterfinal Wednesday.

Argentine Francisco Cerundolo, who turned his career around with a semifinal finish here in 2022, took out countryman Ugo Humbert, 6-4, 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal with No. 3 Alexander Zverev on Thursday.

The 6-foot-6 German disposed of the third Frenchman of the day in the late evening session in a pair of tiebreakers, 7-6(4), 7-6(1) over No. 11 Quentin Halys.

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About the Miami Open presented by Itaú

The 2026 Miami Open presented by Itaú will be played March 15 – March 29 at Hard Rock Stadium. The 15-day event is owned and operated by MARI and Hard Rock Stadium. The Miami Open is one of nine ATP Masters 1000 Series events on the ATP calendar, a WTA 1000 event on the WTA calendar, and annually hosts the world’s best players, with recent champions including the top players in each tour’s rankings – Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek. In 2025, the tournament attracted more than 400,000 spectators over its 15 days at Hard Rock Stadium. Widely regarded as the most glamorous stop on the ATP and WTA calendars, the Miami Open is defined by the city’s vibrant culture, nightlife, five-star dining and hospitality, iconic beaches, and celebrity appeal, along with its close proximity to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

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