On March 24, Beijing time, the Miami Masters began the first matchday competition. In the first round of the focus battle, the Australian bad boy Kyrgios defeated the French monster Manarino in two straight sets 7:6 (3) 6:3 to advance strongly.
Kyrgios is in a great state of recovery at the just-concluded Indian Wells Tournament, and whether he can make a difference at the Miami Masters, where all three are absent, is a major attraction of this tournament. Mannarino went solo in men's tennis with his style of play with needles in his cotton, and this year's Australian Open and Nadal's nearly half-hour marathon tie-7 match impressed fans. Two golfers known for their flexibility in the ball path meet and naturally attract the eye.
In the first set, both sides played steadily. Manarino constantly mobilized Kyrgios through understated line changes, making it impossible for him to find good opportunities in his own serve. But Kyrgios did not lose focus, patiently wrestling with Manarino on the bottom line after applying for a brief medical suspension. The two sides mutually secured serves to advance to the catch of seven. In the seventh, Kyrgios took the lead in a mini break with a forehand backslash. Mannarino took the initiative with a deep ball pushed up the line, and the high pressure of the back of the net made a return break. Kyrgios regained the lead with a beautiful backhand slash, then did not give Mannarino a chance to fight back, taking the first set 7-3. In the first six sets of the second set, both sides saved the serve, and in the seventh set, Kyrgios improved his form in time, taking the lead with two consecutive backhand Return ace to get the break point, and then blasted out a straight line to win the break. In the win-play set, with a goodbye Ace, Kyrgios won the entire match 6-3.
In the second round, Kyrgios will meet Lubrev in the first round of the bye. The two sides have met twice, with H2H being 1:1. The most recent meeting took place in the third round of the 2019 US Open, when Rublev forced Kyrgios to make frequent mistakes in key points with a steady offensive attack, and although Kyrgios set a personal fastest personal save record of 29 seconds in the "serve and loss" of that game, it was still difficult to save the game, losing 0:3. It is worth mentioning that the first two meetings against Kyrgios are the higher-ranked side. Time has passed, rublev is now a top 10 player, and Kyrgios has fallen to the top 100. But Kyrgios has never been a player whose rankings can define, and playing against top players always gives him extra motivation. Of the 172 wins he has won so far in his career, 22 have been against top 10 players.
The two's previous best results in Miami were both in the final four. Coconuts reached the semi-finals in 2017, fighting for three hours, losing seven times in the third set to The Swiss king Federer, who was in good shape at the time, while Lubb reached the semi-finals of the tournament last year and lost to Hulkach. Is this confrontation a match between Kyrgios, who is familiar with the identity of the impactor, playing the role of a seed bomb in this game, going further, or lubrev, who has recently been in excellent form, resisting the attack, successfully defending the ring, and moving on? We'll see! (Source: Tennis House Author: Wenwen)