By Rory Carroll
March 22 (Reuters) – World number one Carlos Alcaraz was stunned by Sebastian Korda 6-3 5-7 6-4 in the third round of the Miami Open on Sunday, giving the American the biggest win of his career.
It appeared Korda had blown his chance to beat the Spaniard when he failed to serve out the match in the second set but he maintained composure, breaking for 4-3 in the third set and claiming the victory with an unreturnable serve on match point.
“It feels great. I took the scenic route, that’s for sure,” Korda said in an on-court interview.
“It was a little more stress than I would want but I’m happy with how I played, happy with how I stayed with it. I got myself into some nasty situations and I kept going, kept believing and I played really well at the end.”
Korda smacked one of his 12 aces to capture the first set and was on the doorstep of victory when serving for the match in the second with a 5-3 lead but was broken at love.
The momentum appeared to swing decidedly in Alcaraz’s favor from there and he overpowered Korda with a forehand to level the match at a set apiece.
But the 25-year-old from Florida refused to back down, going up a break in the decider when Alcaraz’s forehand went wide, consolidating the break for a 5-3 lead with an overhead and sealing the win on his second match point opportunity.
Korda, ranked world number 36, mixed up his game nicely, effectively using a serve and volley to notch his first win ever over a top-ranked player while also benefiting from an uncharacteristically sloppy Alcaraz.
CARLOS HEADS TO THE CLAY
Alcaraz began the year by winning his seventh major title and completing the career Grand Slam with a triumph at the Australian Open.
He did not suffer his first loss of the season until he fell to Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals of Indian Wells and is now 17-2 on the year.
Alcaraz, who won the Miami Open in 2022 when he was 18 years old, also exited the tournament early last year when he fell to unseeded David Goffin of Belgium in three sets in the second round.
As he did last year, Alcaraz will now have extra time to prepare for the clay court season, which begins with next month’s Monte-Carlo Masters.
Korda, seeded 32nd, will next play either Karen Khachanov or Martin Landaluce in the round of 16.
(Reporting by Rory CarrollEditing by Toby Davis and Andrew Cawthorne)
