Mixed bag for American men

By Harvey Fialkov / Staff writer

MIAMI GARDENS — Learner Tien, the top-ranked young American among his Next Gen peers, was coming off a career-best quarterfinal run in a Masters 1000 event at Indian Wells last week as well as a quarterfinal berth in the Australian Open.

Unfortunately the No. 21-ranked Tien didn’t bring that top form to Miami, where he took a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 defeat to 30-year-old Pole Kamil Majchrzak on a packed Grandstand court Saturday.

“I came out today and didn’t feel super-sharp,’’ said Tien, 20, who also lost in the first round here last year. “Overall, I had a little bit of a rough start and in the third had a little bit of a tough start, too and didn’t really recover from that.”

While Poland champions Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz suffered opening-round defeats, 34-year-old Magda Linette and No. 57 Majchrzak won their first rounds, and Majchrzak now continues to the third.

He seemed energized by the Polish fans waving his country’s flag, screaming out his nickname, “Shome,’’ throughout the match to counter the constant cheers of, “Let’s go Learner,’’ from the American faithful. Majchrzak got the early break in the third set, thanks to two double faults by Tien.

“That was the best beginning for me [third set] I could imagine and then I was focused on keeping it going,’’ said Majchrzak, whose wife, Marta, is his physio and trainer. “Then I really found my serve in the third set and that helped me a lot in a great player like Learner.”

Tien was successful on just  57 percent of his first serves and committed 30 unforced errors to 20 winners.

Michelsen, Tiafoe advance

Young American Alex Michelsen used his monstrous serve and backhand to edge former Top 10 Brit Cameron Norrie 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-1 to advance to his fifth Masters 1000 third round.

Ben Shelton, seeded eighth, lost a heartbreaker, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-3 to Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko.

“It was a tough one,’’ said Shelton, the former University of Florida star. “I thought I was pretty close, a shot or two away from closing out the second set and winning the match in straight sets. You got to give Alex a lot of credit. He outplayed me down the stretch and deserved to win 100 percent.

“It’s my home state so it’s disappointing this happened again in this big tournament in my own backyard. That’s life. That’s tennis.”

No. 20 Frances Tiafoe of Boca Raton improved to 17-2 in opening rounds of hard-court events since the start of 2025, with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 W over Frenchman Arthur Cazaux.

“Best start I’ve had in three years,’’ said Tiafoe, No. 20, who’s 13-6 with a final in Acapulco. “[Last few years] I wasn’t stringing two matches in a row. I’m really pleased with how I’m showing up.”

Other top seeds advance Saturday

Alexander Zverev, world No. 4, ended one of the busiest days of tennis in its history with a straight-setter over 22-year-old wild-card Martin Damm, whose father Martin Sr. was once ranked No. 42 in singles and won 40 career doubles titles.

Seventh seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada advanced.

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