Medvedev, eyeing No. 1 ranking, tops Murray at Miami Open

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Daniil Medvedev, of Russia ,returns a shot from Andy Murray, of Britain, during the Miami Open tennis tournament, Saturday, March 26, 2022, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. ā€“ Daniil Medvedev never gave Andy Murray a chance.

The top-seeded Medvedev opened his bid to reclaim the No. 1 ranking Saturday by topping Murray 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the Miami Open. Medvedev never faced a break point in any of his nine service games.

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He can regain the No. 1 spot by making the Miami semifinals.

ā€œDefinitely, I have a lot of motivation to try and get it back," Medvedev said.

Only five men in the past 18 years have held the No. 1 ranking that is currently held by Novak Djokovic. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are also past No. 1ā€™s ā€” while Medvedev and Murray are the others. Murray was No. 1 from November 2016 through August 2017, and that distinction was handed off between Djokovic, Federer and Nadal since before Medvedev got there for the first time on Feb. 28.

Medvedevā€™s stay was brief; his three-week reign ended officially on Monday when Djokovic returned to the top of the rankings. But with three more wins in Miami, Medvedev would be back on top.

ā€œI still felt like in the rallies and stuff I could hang with him, and I didnā€™t feel like from the back of the court I was getting like really outplayed,ā€ said Murray, who got into Miami on a wild card and is continuing his comeback after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery. ā€œIā€™m sure some people will think otherwise.ā€

Murray is a two-time Miami Open winner, those victories coming at the tournamentā€™s former home in nearby Key Biscayne. His loss meant only one past Miami menā€™s winner remains in the field ā€” that being defending champion Hubert Hurkacz, the No. 8 seed who defeated Arthur Rinderknech 7-6 (5), 6-2 and moved into the third round.

Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka moved into the fourth round without ever taking the court. Osaka ā€” the former women's No. 1-ranked player who got straight-set wins on Wednesday and Thursday to get into Round 3 ā€” got a walkover victory Saturday when Karolina Muchova withdrew citing a need for recovery.

ā€œIā€™m sad that I cannot put up a battle against Naomi today,ā€ Muchova wrote on Twitter. ā€œAfter a long break from tennis, 2 tough matches in row have been a lot for my body and I need longer to recover.ā€

Muchova missed about seven months because of an abdominal injury and hadnā€™t played since the U.S. Open before returning in Miami. She recorded straight-set wins over Tereza Martincova and Leylah Fernandez in Miami, but neither was easy ā€” three of the four sets went to tiebreaks and she spent nearly five hours on the court.

Osaka topped No. 13 Angelique Kerber in the second round and wonā€™t have to face another seed until at least the quarterfinals. The earliest No. 22 seed Belinda Bencic could see one is in the semifinals; Bencic, one of only three seeds ā€” out of a possible 16 ā€” to make the third round on the top half of the draw, rolled past Heather Watson 6-4, 6-1.

ā€œIt depends on me, how I play, how I feel," Bencic said. ā€œI'm not always looking at the draw so I have no idea what's going on."

Another seeded third-round winner on the women's side was Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins of the U.S. The No. 9 seed played through some neck soreness and downed Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-4.

No. 8 Ons Jabeur also got an easy win, topping Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 6-0.

A number of men's seeds were beaten in their second-round matches Saturday, including No. 7 Felix Auger-Aliassime, No. 12 Denis Shapovalov, No. 18 Nikoloz Basilashvili, No. 23 Karen Khachanov, No. 24 Daniel Evans, No. 27 Christian Garin and No. 32 Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Sebastian Korda of the U.S. saved a match point on the way to topping Ramos-Vinolas 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3.

Tommy Paul of the U.S. got the upset over Khachanov, winning 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3). Paul improved to 14-7 on the year and will next meet No. 11 Taylor Fritz, the highest-ranked American. Fritz ā€” coming off a win at Indian Wells, even after injuring an ankle ā€” needed three sets to beat qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin on Saturday.

ā€œI was a little worried about my ankle," Fritz said. ā€œI have been definitely kind of holding back in practice the last couple of days, kind of just went once a day, took it easy. Today it felt great, honestly. Itā€™s getting better and better every day."

Another American, Jenson Brooksby, had the upset over Basilashvili, 6-3, 6-1.

Other seeded men's winners included No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas, No. 14 Carlos Alcaraz, No. 15 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 21 Marin Cilic, No. 25 Alex De Minaur and No. 29 Aslan Karatsev.

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