Djokovic survives scare in Miami, breaks Nadal’s Masters record

Serb Novak Djokovic, the No 4 seed, won against Argentinian lucky loser Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-1, 7-6 (1) to advance to the last 16 of the Miami Masters at the Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday.

The victory sees Djokovic break another record, this time moving ahead of Rafael Nadal with the most ATP Masters 1000 victories (411).

“Honestly I wasn’t thinking about it too much,” Djokovic confessed after the one-hour, 45-minute match.. “But of course, honoured to have another milestone, another record broken. There’s always something on the line every time I play, of course that motivates me to do well in the tournament.”

As in his first match of the Miami Open, Djokovic played a brilliant opening set, before things got complicated in the second. However, yet again the Serbian was able to raise his level at the right time – in the tiebreak – and get out in straight sets.

A match of two halves

In the first set, it was all one-way traffic in Djokovic’s favour.

The 37-year-old did not face a single break point but broke Carabelli twice. The Argentine’s second serve was a particular target, with Carabelli failing to win a single point on it over the opening set.

In the second, however, the match took a different trajectory. While Djokovic gained an early break, his intensity dropped mid-set, leading to a break back. Carabelli played excellent tennis, winning eight points in a row to roar into the lead.

Djokovic seemed to be struggling physically – just slightly – and he was certainly getting frustrated as his opponent began winning most of the cat-and-mouse points, mixing in dropshots, lobs and plenty of scrambling to outplay him.

Less unforced errors and more creativity from Carabelli suddenly meant the second set was in real jeopardy of going his way. Djokovic managed to hang on and force a tiebreak, at which stage he raised his level, winning the first three points in vintage style.

He would go on to close out the breaker 7-1 – a mirror-image of the one played against Hijikata – to book his place in the round of 16.

“I started off really well, 6-1, very similar match to the one I played first match here,” Djokovic explained. “Things got complicated in the second, I broke his serve, he rebroke my serve, then we were kind of going toe to toe, I had some chances, I think it was fair to take the second set to a tiebreak. Again, like the few days ago, perfect tiebreak, great serving when I needed to, just overall pleased to get through.”

Djokovic, ranked No 5, will play Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the No 15 seed, next.

The 37-year-old Serb defeated Australian Rinky Hijikata (6-0, 7-6 (1)) in the previous round of the Miami Open.

Earlier in the tournament, Ugo Carabelli, ranked No 65, edged out American qualifier Brandon Holt (2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4) and beat American Alex Michelsen, the No 32 seed (6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-3).

Miami Masters 1000, other third-round results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 9.193.540, most recent results first):

• Alex De Minaur vs. Joao Fonseca
• Matteo Berrettini vs. Zizou Bergs
• Arthur Fils vs. Frances Tiafoe
• Taylor Fritz vs. Denis Shapovalov
• Roman Safiullin vs. Jakub Mensik
• Alexander Zverev vs. Jordan Thompson
• Adam Walton vs. Chak Lam Coleman Wong
• Reilly Opelka vs. Tomas Machac
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Tommy Paul
• Casper Ruud vs. Alejandro Tabilo
• Jaume Munar vs. Gael Monfils
• Brandon Nakashima vs. David Goffin: sunday
• Sebastian Korda (24) beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (9): 7-6 (4), 6-3
• Lorenzo Musetti beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (18): 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
• Grigor Dimitrov (14) beat Karen Khachanov (22): 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-5