BEVERLY HILLS, March 27, (THEWILL) – The season’s Miami Open is off to serving upsets at a blinding pace as Finnish debutant Emil Ruusuvuori claimed one of the biggest wins of his career in the Florida competition. He had to do so in stunning fashion, coming back from a set down to send third seed Alexander Zverev packing with a 1-6 6-3 6-1 victory.
The first set was a breeze for the superior player as the German swept aside the 22-year-old 6-1. But, to the glowing credit of Ruusuvuori, he did not let his head hang, instead immediately switched tactics in the second. He intelligently played with more variety and wasted no time to go at the net, which improved his game wildly and earned him the upset.
Figuring how he did it was difficult for Ruusuvuori, as he admitted in the on-court post-match interview: “I don’t even know myself [how I turned this match around. I wasn’t feeling very comfortable in the first set and I was making a lot of unforced errors.
“But slowly in the second I was starting to feel a bit better. Of course, it’s one of the biggest wins in my career so it feels good.”
In the round of 32, the 82nd ranked Ruusuvuori will contend against Mikael Ymer. The Swede beat 27th-ranked Nikolov Basilashvili in three sets for his second round victory at the Miami Open. They go against each other at a time to be announced on Sunday.
Elsewhere, the next upset was brewing when Australian Open quarter-finalist Cameron Norrie clashed with Grigor Dimitrov and beat him narrowly in two tight sets of 7-5 7-5. This allowed the British player grab his second win over a top-20 player this season after his highly-impressive showing in Melbourne.
“It is a massive win for me and I will take a lot out of it. It is huge. He is really good on the hard courts and had a good start to the year,” Norrie excitedly remarked after his victory. “It was an absolute battle. He came out fast and set the tone for the match, then I was able to be solid towards the end of the first and toughed him out in the second.”
While Norrie advanced through that upset, Britain’s number one Dan Evans lost to American Frances Tiafoe 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-3, which may chalked of as another mini upset for the day at the Miami Open. However, expectedly, top seed Daniil Medvedev beat Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun 6-2 6-2 in 56 minutes, in the absence of the big three of men’s tennis: Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer.
On the female side, British player Katie Boulter lost in straight sets 6-4 6-1 to Elise Mertens from Belgium in the second round while reigning Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka scored 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 to beat Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic for Osaka’s 22nd match win in a row.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
