Andrey Kuznetsov earned the biggest win of his career to date, as he defeated fourth seed and defending Roland Garros champion Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of the Miami Masters.
Kuznetsov proved dominant on first serve, dropping just four points in the first from that wing. However, he lost more than half his second serve points. Despite this he was able to save all four break points he faced and managed to break the two-time Grand Slam champion before serving out for the surprise set advantage.
Wawrinka was struggling, offering chances on both serves, while Kuznetsov improved his second serve in stanza two. The set repeated itself as Kuznetsov saved all four break points he faced in the set and again took the break, this time earlier than in the first. Wawrinka’s game was in trouble as he was broken twice in the second by the Russian, who registered just his second win against a Top Ten opponent.
“I just tried to keep the pressure on him” was Kuznetsov’s reply when pressed for a response as to how he pulled off the shock victory.
Milos Raonic’s participation in Miami was in some doubt after suffering injury in the Indian Wells final. He did play, and win against the United States’ Denis Kudla, but it an unconvincing 7-6, 6-4 win. Kudla was the stronger missing four chances to break in the first, before paying the price in the first set tie-break. Kudla again failed to turn break points into breaks, spurning two chances. Raonic took one from two chances and held his serve through to the end.
There was one American winner early on Saturday, as Jack Sock moved past Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 3-2 ret. Stakhovsky had missed Indian Wells through injury and evidently was not completely comfortable retiring midway through the second set. Sock will next face Raonic, with the Canadian having won six of their total seven meetings.
Kei Nishikori eased past Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-2, 7-6, and there were straight sets wins for Alexandr Dolgopolov and Gael Monfils against Andreas Seppi and Tatusma Ito respectively.
Rafael Nadal, John Isner, and Andy Murray are amongst the seeds in action later, with Nick Kyrgios also taking on Cypriot Marcos Bagdhatis.
