Coco Guaff (USA) reacts to loosing a game to Magda Linette (POL) during the Miami Open on Monday, March 24, 2025, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. Alie Skowronski [email protected]
It was not a good Monday for American women at the Miami Open.
Fourth seed Jessica Pegula was the only one of five American women who advanced. She cruised past Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 6-3.
Defending champion Danielle Collins was eliminated in straight sets by top seed Aryna Sabalenka and then No. 3 seed Coco Gauff had a more shocking exit after a straight sets loss to unseeded 33-year-old Magda Linette of Poland. Both Americans lost by identical scores, 6-4, 6-4.
Gauff had beaten Linette in their previous two meetings, but on this day, the Delray Beach fan favorite was not atop her game. She had 12 double faults to zero by Linette.
“Yeah, it wasn’t great today; it hasn’t been the last two weeks,” a dejected Gauff said after the match. “I’m trying to figure that out.’’
Asked what she would liked to have done better, Gauff replied, “Everything. Serve, return, forehand, backhand. One of those days I just felt off on everything on the court.”
“It is very special to beat Coco,” Linette said. “Even on her worst day, she’s so, so tough. I tried to make it difficult for her by putting pressure on her serve and getting her out of her rhythm.”
Americans Amanda Anisimova and Ashlyn Krueger also lost. Less than 24 hours after beating rising Russian star Mirra Andreeva, Anisimova lost 6-1, 6-3 to Emma Raducanu of Great Britain in just over an hour. Krueger lost to Qinwen Zheng of China.
Danielle Collins (USA) returns to Aryna Sabalenka during the Miami Open on Monday, March 24, 2025, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. Sabalenka won the match. Alie Skowronski [email protected]
“It’s a bummer that there’s not more of us left, especially being here in the U.S., but I am happy to carry that flag into the next round,” said Pegula. “Hopefully, I can use that as motivation with the crowd here.”
On the men’s side, Miami resident and No. 3 seed Taylor Fritz advanced to the Round of 16 with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Canadian Denis Shapovalov. Fritz is the first American Top 3 seed in men’s singles in Miami since Andy Roddick in 2007. He is the only American man other than Brandon Nakashima to reach the fourth round of Indian Wells and Miami this month.
His next opponent, 89th ranked lucky loser Adam Walton of Australia, is one of the most compelling stories of this tournament.
There’s lucky. And then there’s quadruple lucky.
That is how Walton felt on Monday after reaching the fourth round with a 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-4 win over wild card Coleman Wong of Hong Kong, who had upset No. 13 Ben Shelton in the previous round.
Forty-eight hours before that win, Walton had his luggage packed and a ticket for a Saturday night flight to Mexico City, where he planned to play an ATP Challenger Tour event in Morelia.
He had lost in the Miami Open qualifying rounds, was the fourth highest-ranked player on the lucky-loser list, the three ahead of him (Camilo Ugo Carabelli, Gabriel Diallo and Hugo Gaston) had been called up, and the second round was already underway. Walton, the 25-year-old 2021 NCAA doubles champion from the University of Tennessee, figured he had no chance to make the draw.
“I was just warming up Rinky [Hijikata] for his match and then I was going to watch him play Novak [Djokovic], and because we share a coach, I was going to go out with my coach after the match and train because you have to be ready on standby in case you get the call up,” Walton said.
That’s when the call came. Hubert Hurkacz, the 21st seed, withdrew and because he was seeded, he had a first-round bye, so Walton got a pass to the second round, where he beat Luciano Darderi of Italy before knocking off Wong.
“I’m obviously very happy, I shouldn’t even be here,” Walton said on court after the match. “Very good fortune this week. I got thrashed in qualifying and got the callup three days later to play again, and it almost feels like a new start. I’m so happy to be through to the last 16.”
His next match presents the biggest challenge of his career. He has never faced a Top 10 player.
Meanwhile, Fritz doesn’t know much about Walton, other than what he saw during Monday’s match. But he knows not to take his opponent lightly.
“It happens like this sometimes, Lucky Loser, and you kind of feel really good and come in with nothing to lose, and you start playing really well,” Fritz said. “I feel like this kind of thing happens all the time, so I have to obviously be ready.”
Alexander Zverev (GER) returns a serve by Jordan Thompson (AUS) during the Miami Open on Monday, March 24, 2025, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. Zverev won the match. Alie Skowronski [email protected]
The last U.S. male to win a Grand Slam title was Andy Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open. Fritz believes another one will come soon, as five Americans are ranked in the Top 25. Fritz is ranked No. 4, Tommy Paul is 13, Ben Shelton 14, Frances Tiafoe 17 and Sebastian Korda 25.
“We’ve got a really deep group, really good group of guys,” he said. “We’ve all been making each other better for a very long time, and the result of that is what we have now is so many guys. The depth is unreal. I think with all the guys that are capable that we have, at some point it’s going to happen for the slam.”
Fritz moved to Miami a few years ago and having the comforts of home during the Miami Open makes a big difference, he said.
“Depending on the time of the day and the traffic, these two weeks with Spring Break, Ultra, I feel like traffic is a bit worse than normal, it’s taken me between 20 and 30 minutes to get to the site,” Fritz said. “Where I live is closer than if I was staying at the hotels that everyone else stays in and downtown and Brickell.
“It’s nice to be driving my own car, sleeping in my own bed. I’ve done well in the past when I’ve had these kind of conditions.”
Sabalenka also owns a home in Miami and echoed Fritz’s comments.
“I love to stay home, it’s really nice to do my laundry, I can do it any time,” she said. “Also, driving my car and going to my favorite places, and be in this kind of cozy and comfy environment. It’s pretty cool, and I’m happy. I’m happy I have a house here and I’m based here so I can feel this atmosphere during the tournament.”
Speaking of atmosphere, Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca and his passionate, yellow-clad fans, electrified Stadium Court Monday night as the unseeded 18-year-old battled for two and a half hours but fell short to No. 10 seed Alex De Minaur of Australia, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.
The crowd erupted every time Fonseca won a point, serenaded him with chants of “Joao! Fonseca!” and made so much noise that the chair umpire switched to Portuguese and repeatedly pleaded “Obrigado” (Thank You) to get the fans to quiet down.
“I felt like I was in Brazil, so it was super cool,” Fonseca said. “I really liked the tournament, probably one of my favorites now. People were calling, `Joao Fonseca!’ and I was just enjoying the moment.”
Joao Fonseca (BRA) celebrates winning a game against Alex de Minaur (AUS) tying the games after winning the first set during the Miami Open on Monday, March 24, 2025, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. Alie Skowronski [email protected]
After the match, De Minaur wrote “RIO OPEN” with a smiley face on the camera lens.
“Mentally, I was ready for this match,” De Minaur said. “I knew that not only was I going to play an incredible talent playing with immense confidence right now and nothing to lose, but also playing an incredible crowd, which was going to be on his side from the very first point to the last, so I knew it was going to be a very dangerous combo.
“The only option for me was to keep my head down, stay positive, fight ‘til the end and ultimately show what I can do.”
Although he did not like fans making noise between serves, De Minaur relished the experience of playing in front of the boisterous crowd.
“I’m not going to get too many chances to play in such an atmosphere like that one, and it was a lot of fun,” he said.
De Minaur is tied with Felix Auger-Aliassime for most wins on tour this season (17). He is 16-1 against players outside the Top 30 this season.
Fonseca was the youngest man in an ATP Masters 1000 event third round since Carlos Alcaraz at the 2021 Paris event and youngest at the Miami Open third round since Juan Martin Del Potro in 2007. He is 3-3 against Top 20 players. He had committed to play college tennis at the University of Virginia, but in February 2024, after reaching the quarterfinals of the Rio Open at age 17, he decided to turn pro.
Asked his impressions of Fonseca, De Minaur said: “ He’s an incredible talent. He’s got firepower from both sides. He’s got an incredible serve. Super dangerous player, playing with a lot of confidence. And he’s still so young, so he’s only going to get better and make it harder for us guys on tour.”
Naomi Osaka (JPN) returns a ball to Jasmine Paolini (ITA) during the Miami Open on Monday, March 24, 2025, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. Paolini won the match. Alie Skowronski [email protected]
In other matches, top men’s seed Alexander Zverev beat Jordan Thompson 7-5, 6-4, former No. 1 Naomi Osaka lost 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to No. 6 Jasmine Paolini of Italy and Jalub Mensiz of Czech Republic beat Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-4. American Frances Tiafoe lost to Arthur Fils of France 7-6 (13-11), 5-7, 6-2. Wild Card Alexandra Eala of the Philippines advanced to the quarterfinals by walkover after Paula Badosa of Spain withdrew with a low back injury.
This story was originally published March 24, 2025 at 6:01 PM.
