A whole host of rising stars will be on display at the Miami Masters on Thursday, when first-round action is wrapping up. Sebastian Korda is kicking off his campaign against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, while Lorenzo Musetti faces Alexei Popyrin.
Sebastian Korda vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Korda and Davidovich Fokina will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers when they clash in round one of the Miami Open on Thursday. This should be a good one between two players on similar trajectories. The 21-year-old Korda has won 40 matches at the ATP level and is up to a career-high ranking of No. 38 in the world; the 22-year-old Davidovich Fokina owns 47 match victories and is No. 43–11 spots off his career-high mark.
A slight edge in current form goes to Korda, who is 6-4 this season compared to Davidovich Fokina’s 4-7 record. They both played well in Indian Wells, but it could have been even better for Korda. After defeating Thanasi Kokkinakis, the American led eventual runner-up Rafael Nadal 5-2 in the third set with a double-break only to collapse at the finish line. Davidovich Fokina beat Borna Coric in three sets and then lost to Denis Shapovalov in three. Korda also has home-court advantage in Miami, so he will likely get the job done in a tight one.
Pick: Korda in 3
Lorenzo Musetti vs. Alexei Popyrin
Musetti and Popyrin will also be colliding for the first time on the main tour, but they are certainly no strangers to each other. In fact, they just squared off at last week’s Phoenix Challenger, where Musetti cruised 6-2, 6-2. That was their fourth encounter at the Challenger or ATP qualifying levels, with the 76th-ranked Italian having won three in a row to take a 3-1 lead in the head-to-head series.
The Phoenix result isn’t much of a surprise because Popyrin has been a disaster in 2022. Across all levels of competition, the 92nd-ranked Aussie is 3-10–including 2-10 in his last 12 matches. Musetti has advanced at least one round in four of his last five tournaments, with the only exception being when he had to go up against Novak Djokovic right away in Dubai. There is no reason to think anything will be different than it was in Phoenix when the 76th-ranked Italian runs into Popyrin again on Thursday.
Pick: Musetti in 2
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Davidovich Fokina in 3, Musetti in 2.