Miami first-round action continues on Thursday, with Sebastian Korda of the United States taking on Moldova’s Radu Albot and former Wimbledon runner-up Kevin Anderson facing Brazilian Thiago Monteiro.
Sebastian Korda vs. Radu Albot
Sebastian Korda’s star is on the rise. The son of former Australian Open champion Petr Korda came out of nowhere to reach the round of 16 at the French Open last fall. He lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. Since then, the American has made the finals in Delray Beach and won the Challenger event in Quimper. Since then, it has been a mixed bag–with a couple of second-round showings in Montpellier and Acapulco.
Moldovan Radu Albot has posted two solid results in 2021: a semifinal in Singapore and a third-round showing at the Australian Open. However, he also has a trio of first-round losses. If Korda’s 20-year-old star is on the rise, Albot’s seems to be winding down. The world No. 77 was at a career high of 39 in the world back in 2019, but a dismal 2020 put him back to qualifying for events once in awhile.
This should be a good opportunity for the hometown guy. Korda has a big game aside from a serve that isn’t as big as it could be for a 6’5″ player. While he still struggles with inconsistency at times, the youngster has displayed both talent and resilience in the early stages of his career.
Cheryl pick: Korda in 2
Ricky pick: Korda in 2
Kevin Anderson vs. Thiago Monteiro
South African veteran Kevin Anderson has been working hard to recover from knee surgery, but he languishes at No. 91 in the world due to a slow recovery and the loss of form that once saw him to the final of Wimbledon and the U.S. Open (2017-18). He managed to win a couple of matches at one of the leadup events held in Melbourne prior to the Australian Open, but he ran into the in-form Italian Matteo Berrettini and crashed out at the main event in the first round.
Thiago Monteiro has had an impressive start to the 2021 season. He has already pocketed a semifinal showing in one of the Aussie Open warmup events and a quarterfinal in Cordoba a few weeks ago during the South American clay-court swing.
Anderson and Monteiro have met just once. Anderson won that match, but it was on a Monteiro retirement. Given the Brazilian’s form, Anderson may find himself bumped out of the Miami Masters in the first round.
Cheryl pick: Monteiro in 2
Ricky pick: Monteiro in 3
WWW?
Korda in 2; Mro in 3.