Miami Open 2023: Stefanos Tsitsipas battles hard to beat Cristian Garin and set up last-16 clash with Karen Khachanov

Stefanos Tsitsipas battled hard to end Cristian Garin’s storming Miami Open run with a 6-3 4-6 6-4 victory, setting up a last 16 clash with Karen Khachanov.

The second seed took to the Hard Rock Stadium courts for the first time against the Chilean, after receiving a bye and a walkover in the first two rounds, and looked to have shaken off a recent shoulder injury as he made a strong start, only to lose the second set before edging a gruelling battle in the third.

Tsitsipas took two hours and three minutes to claim victory, landing 12 aces and 31 winners to halt his in-form opponent, who took down Marcos Giron and Sebastian Baez in Miami after defeating Casper Ruud during his run to the fourth round at Indian Wells earlier this month.

Next up for Tsitsipas is a clash with Khachanov in a repeat of January’s Australian Open semi-final, which the Greek won in four sets.

World No.16 Khachanov earned a 6-2 6-4 win over Jiri Lehecka, who had not dropped a set in his maiden Miami Open campaign until facing the powerful Russian, who landed eight aces and remained unbroken, winning 75% of his points on serve.

Tsitsipas said ahead of the third round that he was hoping for a pain-free match after struggling in Indian Wells, where he lost his opening clash against Jordan Thompson.

Both players stayed strong on serve at the start of the opening set until Tsitsipas was 4-3 up, when the Greek pounced on the second of two break points.

A love hold secured the first set in style in just 35 minutes, and the world No.3 showed his bottle early in the second by saving three break points in his first service game for a gutsy hold.

Break opportunities were hard to come by after that, with both players serving well, underlined by Tsitsipas hitting three consecutive aces in game four.

Garin flexed his muscles with back-to-back love holds as he took a 5-4 lead, and the 26-year-old then pushed hard, setting up three break points and coming to the net to dispatch the first and send the match to a decider.

The Chilean faced two break points immediately in the third set as Tsitsipas came out firing, but an unforced error from the Greek and a Garin ace saw them off as the world No. 82 held impressively.

Both players refused to budge on serve until Tsitsipas spotted an opportunity at 4-4, earning a break point in deuce and seizing it when Garin stuck a backhand into the net.

All that remained for the Australian Open runner-up was to serve out the match – and he did so in style by landing the match point with an ace.