Thanasi Kokkinakis has made probably the most of his lucky-loser reprieve to put up a first-round win over Belgium’s Zizou Bergs on the Miami Open.
Kokkinakis on Wednesday misplaced his last qualifying tie towards skilled Frenchman Benoit Paire on the ATP 1000 Masters occasion, however was promoted to the principle draw alongside fellow countryman Chris O’Connell after a number of late withdrawals.
The world No.94 arrange a second-round battle with Polish eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz by coming again strongly after dropping the primary set on Thursday.
Kokkinakis saved three match factors in a third-set tiebreak to eliminate wildcard Bergs 4-6 6-3 7-6 (9-7).
“I’ve been feeling happy on court the past couple of weeks and made a pact with myself to at least compete, no matter how I’m feeling,” mentioned Kokkinakis, who final week defeated Czech Top 50 participant Jiri Lehecka within the Phoenix Challenger.
“My tennis is fine, it’s just my head. I’m just trying to give myself every chance.
“The crowd acquired behind me and with out them I would not have pulled via. I’m pleased I reside to combat one other day.”
O’Connell was unable to follow suit, losing out to former world No.7 Richard Gasquet 6-4 3-6 6-1.
Gasquet’s reward is a showpiece second-round clash against second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The 32 seeded players, including Australia’s Alex de Minaur, received byes straight into the second round.
Fourth seed Daniil Medvedev will take on Roberto Carbellas Baena, who blew away his fellow Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-0 3-0 (retired).
The other two Australians in first-round action on Thursday faced a similar fate, with Jason Kubler and Jordan Thompson falling to Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro and Slovakia’s Alex Molcan respectively.
Monteiro will next face No.5 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, while Molcan takes on Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.
World No.18 de Minaur gets his challenge underway against Quentin Halys of France.
He will be joined by fellow Aussie Alexei Popyrin, who faces No.26 seed Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands.
Popyrin certified after his first-round opponent Mikael Ymer retired when down 7-6 (7-5) 4-4 on Wednesday.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
