Three of the four fourth-round matches in the top half of the draw at the Miami Open were completed by the end of play on Tuesday. Arthur Fils is thrilled that his match was the only exception.
Coming off a two-hour and 55-minute Monday battle with Frances Tiafoe that had Fils cramping toward the end, he was supposed to go up against Alexander Zverev on Tuesday. It was last on the order of play, though, and an extensive afternoon rain delay pushed that match to Wednesday.
With an extra day of rest, Fils–despite still struggling physically–managed to upset Zverev 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to round out the quarterfinal lineup at the second of back-to-back Masters 1000 events. The 20-year-old Frenchman, who was also a quarterfinalist in Indian Wells, advanced after exactly two hours.
“Oh it helped me a lot,” Fils said in an interview with Ziggo Sport when asked about the postponement. “Because I think if I was playing yesterday, it could have been tough. It could have been very tough. When I woke up, I couldn’t really move. So I’m very happy about the rain [that] came.”
The world No. 18, who has been dealing with an apparent back problem, will face surprising quarterfinalist Jakub Mensik on Thursday. Mensik, who got a walkover from fellow Czech Tomas Machac in the last round, has not played since Monday.
nice one, Arthur