Carreño loses five match-balls before falling against Sinner

The defeat that Pablo Carreño suffered this Sunday at the Masters 1,000 in Miami was very hard. The man from Gijón played a great game, but could not take advantage of the five points he had to win it, one in the second set and four in the second, and fell 5-7, 7-5 and 7-5 in 3h11 against a Jannik Sinner (number 11 in the world) in grace, who has already saved three match-balls in his second-round duel against Finn Ruusuvuori. The 20 year old Italian He will face Nick Kyrgios on Tuesday., the Australian who has become serious and scared by the game and the forcefulness with which he wins his matches. His victim this time was another transalpine, as imaginative and controversial as he was, Fabio Fognini, whom he beat 6-2, 6-4.

Unfortunately for Carreño, it is not the first time that something similar has happened to him. Last year, also on American soil, in the first round of the US Open, he wasted four chances to beat the local Maxime Cressy in the tiebreaker of the fifth round and went home. This time the rival was more important and forgave him in the second set, with 5-4 to the rest and in the third when the Spaniard served with 5-3 to win and when he had the rest of his chances of victory with 5-4 and Sinner service. A real shame, because Pablo was brilliant in many moments, with blows and legs, and Jannik failed more than necessary in a first round full of ups and downs that escaped him.

Carreño assumed quite well, at least on the track, what happened against a rival he had managed to beat two years ago in Rotterdam, also on hard court, and in a favorable place in which he was a semifinalist in 2018. But Sinner is also good at Miami. In fact, he was a finalist last year, although he was beaten by the Polish Hurkacz. And it cannot be denied that he had the courage and determination not to give up when Carreño had him on the ropes, although it is true that some of the match points were lost by the Spaniard due to unforced errors.

a pity He has to get up and continue fighting. At the moment, he has risen a couple of places in the ranking, up to 17th, although Bautista and even De Miñaur could return him to 19th. His next tournament will be, in principle, Monte Carlo, already in the clay campaign.

Zverev, with a firm step

Second-seeded Alexander Zverev had no problem getting rid of Makenzie McDonald, whom he had already beaten in their previous two meetings. The German won by a double 6-2 in one hour and 13 minutes. The 2018 finalist (lost to Isner), a follower of the NBA’s Miami Heat, will face Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis in the round of 16, who sweated to beat the American Kudla (7-6 (5), 4-6 and 7-6 (4)). Casper Ruud (6th) swept Alexander Bublik, who starred in the extravagance of the day by hitting the ball with the grip of his racket and winning after the point. The Norwegian will meet Cameron Norrie (10th). The British dispatched the Frenchman Gaston with no problem (6-3 and 7-5). The surprise was given by the Argentine Francisco Cerundolo, who dismounted the Frenchman Gael Monfils (22nd), who arrived in good form and fell 6-2, 6-3. It has been a difficult few days for him personally due to the suffering of his wife, the Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina, due to the situation in her country. The joy for the Cerundolo family was not complete because Juan Manuel fell to the local Tiafoe (6-3 and 6-2). Francisco will try to avenge his brother’s defeat against the American in the round of 16.

Results of the Miami Masters 1,000.