Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff advance as Daniil Medvedev exits Miami Open
World number one Aryna Sabalenka and fourth seed Coco Gauff have progressed to the Miami Open quarter-finals, while Daniil Medvedev suffered a shock third-round exit.
The reigning champion required just an hour and 25 minutes to dispatch China’s Zheng Qinwen in a convincing 6-3 6-4 victory.
The 27-year-old Belarusian, who has captured the past two US Open titles, continues to display serene form on the Florida hard courts.
She will next face American Hailey Baptiste, who secured her own last-eight spot by defeating Latvian Jelena Ostapenko.
Gauff overcomes sketchy display on home soil
Fourth seed Gauff also reached the quarter-finals following a hard-fought 6-3 4-6 6-2 triumph over Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.
The 22-year-old American survived a difficult serving performance, committing six double faults and suffering five breaks of serve.
The hometown favourite entered the event carrying a left arm nerve issue that forced her retirement at Indian Wells earlier this month.
“I want to win this tournament so bad because it is my home tournament,” said Gauff.
“But I didn’t have the best preparation, so setting expectations lower allows me to free up and not expect too much of myself.”
Spider cam scare overshadows Medvedev defeat
In the men’s draw, former world number one Medvedev was eliminated at the last-32 stage by Francisco Cerundolo.
The Argentine secured a dramatic 6-0 4-6 7-5 victory to knock out the player who recently defeated Carlos Alcaraz at Indian Wells.
The match was temporarily interrupted by a bizarre incident when the aerial ‘spider cam’ became entangled with umpire Mohamed Lahyani’s elevated chair.
Lahyani was forced to evacuate his seat while ball boys intervened to prevent the structure from completely toppling over.
“I didn’t know what to expect, it was a great match, super tough,” Cerundolo said of his victory.
“It was my first match against Daniil. He’s probably one of the only guys on tour who I have never played.”
