French 17-year-old Moise Kouame downed American qualifier Zachary Svajda 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 to set a record in the first round of the Miami Open on Tuesday in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Kouame is the youngest player to win a match at the Miami Open. Per the ATP Tour, he is the youngest match winner at any ATP Masters 1000 tournament since Spanish star Rafael Nadal won one in Hamburg in 2003.
Kouame, ranked No. 385 in the world, earned a wild card into the event. His 11 aces were counteracted by 11 double faults, but he still won 49 of 64 first-service points (76.6%) and saved a whopping 10 of 12 break points.
“It’s my first time (in a Masters 1000 main draw), so I didn’t expect all of this, but here I am,” Kouame told Tennis Channel. “I need to get used to it pretty fast. It brings me a lot of confidence. It shows me that I’m on the right path. I just need to keep working.”
The other big news out of Tuesday’s action came from another youngster’s victory. Brazilian 19-year-old Joao Fonseca earned a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 win over Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan to advance to face world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in the second round.
It will mark the first meeting between Alcaraz, the seven-time Grand Slam winner, and Fonseca, the 2024 NextGen Finals champion.
“I’m excited for sure,” said Fonseca, who hit 12 aces against Marozsan. “I don’t know about other players, but I look forward to playing against the top players. I played against Jannik (Sinner) last tournament, and now I’m playing against Carlos. It’s just a super experience, so I’m looking forward to it for sure and it’s going to be a great match. Hopefully I can get the win.”
Amid a day with 24 total matches following Wednesday’s rainout, world No. 272 Darwin Blanch, an 18-year-old wild card from nearby Boca Raton, Fla., surprised German Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Another American, Reilly Opelka, squeezed past Portugal’s Nuno Borges 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-6 (5), and countryman Alex Michelsen needed just 65 minutes to beat Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci 6-2, 6-1.
One more American wild card, Martin Damm, won his first set 6-0 before British foe Jacob Fearnley retired.
Three Spaniards — Roberto Bautista Agut and qualifiers Rafael Jodar Martin Landaluce — advanced.
Other winners included Mariano Navone and Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina, Zizou Bergs and Raphael Collignon of Belgium, Adrian Mannarino and Quentin Halys of France, Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, Matteo Berrettini of Italy, Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Marin Cilic of Croatia, Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic, Kamil Majchrzak of Poland and Alejandro Tabilo of Chile.
–Field Level Media
