By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday March 30, 2021
Sebastian Korda earned his first career Top 10 win and reached the quarter-finals at the Miami Open.
Photo Source: Getty
There’s still room on the Sebastian Korda bandwagon, but you might want to join soon—because spots are filling up rapidly.
The 20-year-old American produced another head-turning win on Tuesday at the Miami Open on Tuesday, defeating World No.9 Diego Schwartzman for his first career Top 10 win and booking a spot in his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal in just his second such main draw, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.
“I think mentally I was great out there,” Korda said of his hard-fought victory. “I stayed calm. Even when in the tight situations I believed in myself and I went for it. I'm super proud of that. Yeah, just a lot of joy inside. Yeah, all the hard work that I have done with my team is paying off.”
Korda put constant pressure on Schwartzman, producing 38 winners to just 12 for the Argentine, and didn’t buckle in the tense moments, even after Schwartzman saved a break point and broke serve to level at 5-all in the third set.
Schwartzman came away impressed with the firepower of Korda, and compared him to hard-hitting Czech Tomas Berdych.
“I see many things similar to Tomas Berdych when he's playing. I played against Tomas,” Schwartzman said. “I felt the same today, you know, on court. He's hitting really hard the ball. He has very good timing, good serve, good movements. He looks like he's playing in ATP Tour since many years ago.”
Schwartzman rallied valiantly to take the second set from Korda after the American swept through the opener behind a barrage of well-struck winners.
“He has a lot of confidence right now,” Schwartzman said. “I think he's going to increase his ranking for sure this year.”
Korda, who earned his first career Top 20 victory in his previous match when he took out Fabio Fognini from a set down, will next face Russian Andrey Rublev next.
The No.4-seeded Russian took down Marin Cilic 6-4 6-4 on Tuesday to reach his second career Masters 1000 quarterfinal.
“I think it will be a lot of fun,” Korda said of facing the ATP's 2021 win leader. “We are both big hitters, and he's having a great season and a great whole year pretty much. He's probably the hottest player on tour right now, and it's going to be another cool opportunity for me and another cool experience to play such a player like him.”
The quarterfinals are now set in Miami
Stefanos Tsitsipas rounded out the last eight in Miami with a straight-sets victory over Lorenzo Sonego on Tuesday in Miami. The Greek, seeking his first Masters 1000 title, has been very solid thus far, as has Daniil Medvedev, who topped Frances Tiafoe in straights sets earlier in the day.
Tsitsipas will face Hubert Hurkacz, who has defeated Canadians Denis Shapovalov and Milos Raonic in back-to-back matches, in the quarterfinals.
Alexander Bublik powered past Taylor Fritz to reach his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal and set a date with 19-year-old Jannik Sinner. The Italian is the youngest player left in the draw, he defeated Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland to reach his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal on just his third main draw appearance at this level.