(Miami) Canadians Bianca Andreescu and Denis Shapovalov advanced to the third round of the Miami Open on Friday.
Ranked 31st in the world, Andreescu won 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 over seventh-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece.
Shapovalov prevailed 6-3, 3-6 and 6-3 at the expense of Argentinian Guido Pella.
Andreescu improved his career record against Sakkari to 2-1; his two victories were recorded in Miami.
The Ontarian defeated the Greek in the semi-finals of the tournament in 2021, before losing in the final to Australian Ashleigh Barty.
Andreescu had a chance to break Sakkari in the first set tiebreaker, but the latter held on.
Andreescu pulled herself together in the second set and she didn’t face any break points in addition to materializing her two chances in such a situation.
The third set started with three straight breaks and Andreescu took a 2-1 lead. She added another break to give herself a big cushion. Sakkari was able to salvage one of those breaks, but she was unable to tie the game.
Andreescu’s next rival will be American Sofia Kenin, racket number 164 in the world.
Quebec’s Leylah Fernandez was not as successful, being defeated 6-1, 6-1 by ninth-seeded Belinda Bencic.
The Swiss settled the matter in 68 minutes, scoring all five breaks in the game.
Fernandez is ranked 53rd in women’s tennis.
Shapovalov, seeded 24, is trying to advance past the third round of this Masters 1000 event for the first time since 2019, when he lost in the semi-finals to Roger Federer.
Shapovalov got his third break of the game in the eighth game of the final set, when Pella double faulted.
The Canadian then won his serve at zero to advance to the third round.
There he will face the American Taylor Fritz, seeded ninth.
Shapovalov had a bye until the second round in Miami.
The Ontarian recorded a quick break to take a 2-0 lead in the first set. He then saved a break point and hit an ace on his first set point in the ninth game.
Pella smashed his opponent to give himself a 3-1 lead in the second set, but Shapovalov smashed the Argentine in the next game.
Pella once again smashed Shapovalov to take a 4-2 lead and he forced a final set by winning his serve to nil.
Shapovalov is now undefeated in two duels against Pella.
The two players had crossed swords in the second round of the Rome Masters in 2020.
Saturday afternoon, the Quebecer and fifth seed Félix Auger-Aliassime will face the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro, in the second round.
