It’s round of 16 day for the men with top American Taylor Fritz battling the brash young Dane Holger Rune and Botic van de Zandschulp taking on Emil Ruusuvuori. All four players are in a loaded top half of the draw.
(9) Taylor Fritz vs. (7) Holger Rune
This will be the fist meeting between American Taylor Fritz and Paris Masters champion Holger Rune. It’s a tantalizing matchup. Both players enjoyed their best season in 2022; both of them do their best work on hard courts. Fritz was briefly in the top five at the beginning of the month, but his failure to defend his title ranking points in Indian Wells lost him five spots.
Rune, the controversial Danish star, has not managed to match the form that took him to the title at the Paris Masters at the end of the 2022 season. He is title-less for the year so far; he also had a shock loss to Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka in Indian Wells a week ago in the third round. Rune posted a pair of straight-set wins in Miami to earn his spot in the fourth round, but Fritz is certain to be a tougher opponent than either Marton Fucsovics or Diego Schwartzman.
Although Rune is a dangerous player when he is in form, Fritz has been by far the more consistent of the two men this season. He will also have the home crowd support.
Cheryl pick: Fritz in 3
Ricky pick: Fritz in 2
(26) Botic van de Zandschulp vs. Emil Ruusuvuori
Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp has had a rough season. The world No. 32 started off well enough with a semifinal showing in Pune, but he has hardly managed to string two match wins together. He has won a pair so far this week; he took out the No. 3 seed Casper Ruud in the third round. Ruud himself is struggling at the moment, though, so it might not be as impressive as it might seem.
World No. 54 Emil Ruusuvuori has not had any better results than van de Zandschulp. He was an anemic 7-8 on the season headed into Miami. Ruusuvuori upset Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut in the second round this week; his best result of the season so far along with his upset of Bautista Agut in the same round of Indian Wells.
Of note is that Van de Zandschulp sprained his right ankle in Indian Wells, forced to retire in the second round against Ilya Ivashka. He held up well in his upset win over Ruud in the third round, which is good news for the Dutchman and his fans. Ruusuvuori and Van de Zandschulp have a 1-1 head-to-head; they met twice on grass and split the wins.
Cheryl pick: Van de Zandschulp in 3
Ricky pick: Ruusuvuori in 3
WWW?
Rune probably learned from that defeat to a class player, so this should be a doozie.
Great match-ups today in Miami: Rune in 3; Rvori in 3.
Hard to go against Ruusuvuori right now. Bautista Agut had everything to play for and still can’t go short. And T Daniel was in great form.
Ruud has been hit and miss, so a questionable form line.
“came up short”