Ruthless Korda Races Past Davidovich Fokina

Sebastian Korda’s love affair with the Miami Open presented by Itau continued in style Thursday, with the American dispatching Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-1, 6-1 to reach the second round.

The 21-year-old enjoyed a run to the quarter-finals on his debut at the ATP Masters 1000 event last year when he was ranked No. 87 in the ATP Rankings. Now at a career-high No. 38, Korda set the wheels in motion for another strong week with a dominant one-hour, 11-minute win over Spaniard Davidovich Fokina.

“I played some long points. It was pretty warm out there so I am super happy to get through,” Korda said in his on-court interview. “I made him run around a bit. I think I did a good job on that today and am super happy with the way I played.”

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The American, who eliminated seeds Fabio Fognini, Aslan Karatsev and Diego Schwartzman in Miami in 2021, fired the ball through the court with great power and precision in his first ATP Head2Head meeting against the World No. 43.

“I made the quarter-finals last year and ever since I was a little kid I came to this tournament,” Korda added. “Now to be able to be here and compete myself, I think little Sebi would be very happy.”

With his victory, Korda will next play 32nd seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas in what will be the first clash between the pair.

Korda arrives in Miami on the back of two promising performances at the BNP Paribas Open, where he defeated Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis before falling agonisingly short against World No. 3 Rafael Nadal in three sets.

The 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals runner up is competing in his sixth tour-level event of the year in Florida, with his best result this season a run to the last eight on home soil in Delray Beach last month.

Davidovich Fokina was making his Miami debut and is one of nine Spaniards in the singles field. The 22-year-old advanced to the quarter-finals in Doha last month.