Stefanos Tsitsipas continued his strong run of form on Saturday to beat Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-4 at the Miami Open presented by Itau.
World No. 5 entered the game with one win from four ATP Head2Head rivals against Dzumhur, but scored 18 winners and gave him confidence to advance after 68 minutes. Tsitsipas appeared for the first time since finishing second at Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC last week.
“It was a good game, especially against one that I very likely don’t have a good record to play against before,” Tsitsipas said. “I started the game very strong, breaking it twice and steering well on the score, and I think things worked out after that. ”
Tsitsipas is the third player to win 15 wins this season (15-4). The Greek joins Russian duo Andrey Rublev (16-3) and Daniil Medvedev (15-2) in the exclusive club.
Tsitsipas demonstrated his court cover skills and led rallies with his forearm throughout the game in the second round. The second seed, which hit 10 of his 18 winners on his front side, tore his opponent and made just nine non-critical mistakes.
The 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion will face Kei Nishikori in the third round. Nishikori needed two hours and 50 minutes to overcome Aljaz Bedene 7-6 (6), 5-7, 6-4.
This is Nishikori’s second win in as many weeks against Bedene. The Japanese also beat Slovenia 6-4, 6-4 at the Dubai Free Tennis Championships last week.
Tsitsipas will try to claim his first win against the Nishikori. The old World No. 1 won. 4 the same meeting ATP Head2Head previously held on home ground at the 2018 Japan Rakuten Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo.
“[Kei is] a player who has played well in the past, and even now can raise his level very high, ”said Tsitsipas. “I will try to get ready for battle. It’s important for me to have games against strong opponents like him.
“I’ve been really pumped for the game and I’m going to try and put out my best performance. I’m going to try to bring it game by game… It’s a strong third round, I won’t hide it. It’s important for me to be ready for that game and to be physically ready. ”