Korda stuns Alcaraz on home soil to reach the last 16
Shock in Miami! Sebastian Korda (No. 32) defeated Carlos Alcaraz (No. 1) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in the third round on Sunday. The American, ranked No. 36, claimed the biggest victory of his career and his first-ever win over a world No. 1.
Carlos Alcaraz, Miami 2026 | © Zuma / PsNewz
American seed No. 32 Sebastian Korda defeated top seed Carlos Alcaraz 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in the third round of the Miami Open on Sunday. Korda, ranked No. 36, posted the biggest win of his career at the Hard Rock Stadium to book his place in the last 16 for the third time in Miami.
Alcaraz, who lifted the trophy in Miami in 2022, suffered his second straight early exit at the event. Last year he fell to 55th-ranked Belgian David Goffin in the second round.
Alcaraz leaves Miami with a 17-2 record this season. The 22-year-old had entered the tournament in the form of his life: he became the youngest man to complete the Career Grand Slam at the Australian Open in January and followed that up with an authoritative ATP 500 title in Doha. Yet the Spaniard had been beaten in the Indian Wells semi-finals by Daniil Medvedev before his arrival in Florida, and Sunday’s defeat confirmed a softer patch in an otherwise extraordinary first quarter of the season: two losses in his last three matches.
After three months of competition, the tour still has not seen an Alcaraz-Sinner meeting. The Italian remains on course for a potential Sunshine Double, which would be the first since Roger Federer in 2017.
Korda’s dominant opening
Korda became just the sixth American man to defeat a world No. 1 since 2015. It was also his first-ever win over a player ranked No. 1 in the world, having gone 0 for 4 in previous attempts.
The 24-year-old American served with exceptional authority throughout, landing 12 aces without a single double fault. He won 101 points to Alcaraz’s 97 in a match that lasted two hours and 20 minutes — margins that speak to just how fine the line was between the two players.
Korda’s game plan was clear from the outset: be aggressive, take the ball early, give Alcaraz no time to settle. The American broke in the fifth game of the first set and served it out with composure to take the opener 6-3. His intent was rooted in simplicity.
“With Ryan we sat down, our goal today was to play average,” Korda said after the match, referring to his new coach, former top-40 player Ryan Harrison. “Just have an average ball. Don’t do too much with it.”
The instruction sounds deceptively modest, but against a player of Alcaraz’s calibre, restraint is itself a weapon. Korda credited the tactical shift with keeping him from the kind of forced errors that had undone him in previous big-match encounters.
A near-disaster in the second
The second set threatened to unravel Korda’s work. He served for the match at 5-4, only to be broken to love, gifting Alcaraz the momentum to take five consecutive games and force a decider. It was the sort of passage of play — a tightening of the arm, a spray of errors — that has historically cost the American on the biggest stages.
Although Alcaraz mounted a spirited comeback late in the second set, Korda reset with impressive composure, rediscovering his clean ball-striking and tactical clarity to close out the match. The decisive blow came at 3-3 in the third set, when Alcaraz pushed a forehand wide to gift Korda the break. He did not look back.
“I got myself in some nasty situations,” Korda acknowledged after the match. “Just kept going and kept believing. I played really well at the end.”
Landaluce next
For Korda, the win carries a weight beyond the scoreline. After missing two and a half months last year with a right shin stress fracture and slipping to No. 86 in the rankings, Korda demonstrated just how dangerous he can be when fully fit. The Delray Beach title he claimed last month was evidence enough; now he has added the most prestigious scalp of his career.
“He’s unbelievable in every aspect of his game,” Korda said of Alcaraz. “Movement, volleys, forehand, backhand — there’s nothing he can’t do. I had to be aggressive. I had to take the ball out of his hand.”
Korda has set up a fourth-round meeting with Alcaraz’s compatriot qualifier Martín Landaluce of Spain. Ranked 151st in the world, Landaluce entered the tournament through qualifying and beat Marcos Giron, Luciano Darderi and others to reach the third round. He then beat seed No. 14 Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4 to advance and set up his date with Korda. The win would allow Korda to match his best result in Miami, where he reached the quarter-finals in 2021 and 2025.
