John Isner will make his 2021 Miami Masters debut on Friday night against countryman Mackenzie McDonald. Fellow American Frances Tiafoe will follow up a first-round win when he faces Great Britain’s Dan Evans.
(18) John Isner vs. (Q) Mackenzie McDonald
John Isner is hanging just inside the top 30, largely thanks to his annual performance at the Miami Masters. In 2018, the towering American won the event, and in 2019 he made his way to the final–where he lost to Roger Federer. The event was canceled in 2020. Isner has become something of a Miami Masters specialist.
He will take on countryman Mackenzie McDonald in his first Miami match of 2021. Isner hasn’t been in particularly good form this season. In fact, he is an anemic 2-2 after deciding to skip the trip to Australia. McDonald has had quite a good start to the year. He made the round of 16 at the Australian Open and won a Challenger event in Nur-Sultan. He is still ranked 120th in the world due in part to the modified ranking system as a result of COVID-related tournament cancellations.
Isner should still get through this one, but it may not be as easy as their respective rankings would suggest. He has only played a total of four matches in 2021 and McDonald seems to be in decent form.
Cheryl pick: Isner in 3
Ricky pick: Isner in 3
(19) Dan Evans vs. Frances Tiafoe
This could be one of the better matches on Friday. Dan Evans won one of the Australian Open warmup events but then promptly lost in the first round of the slam at the hands of countryman Cameron Norrie. He has won only a single match in the two events since.
Frances Tiafoe has limped through the early stages of 2021. After a quarterfinal showing in Delray Beach, the American hasn’t been able to string together more than one win at a time. His most recent loss came in the second round in Acapulco at the hands of in-form Italian Lorenzo Musetti.
Evans and Tiafoe have met on three other occasions; Evans holds a slight 2-1 edge and he won their last meeting in Antwerp last year. Tiafoe would ordinarily have the edge of playing at home, but COVID protocols have severely limited the number of spectators permitted at the event. The atmosphere just isn’t going to be there.
It should be a pretty close, entertaining match with Evans just slipping through to the third round.
Cheryl pick: Evans in 3
Ricky pick: Evans in 3
WWW?
The Big dawg in 2; Tiafoe in 3.
Pretty accurate picking, except Evans lost 🙁