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The 2nd seed Stefanos Tsitsipas is through into the last 16 at the Miami Masters. Struggling with a right shoulder injury, Stefanos defeated Cristian Garin 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours and four minutes for a place in the fourth round.
Tsitsipas could not do much with his backhand. However, his serve and forehand worked well, and it was enough to beat a determined rival who fired 33 winners and 25 unforced errors. They had almost 70 service winners, and there were only three breaks of serve, one in each set.
Stefanos seized two out of five break points to make the difference and prevail despite not feeling the best. Tsitsipas built a slight lead in the shortest rallies up to four strokes, and Garin stayed in touch in the mid-range ones to remain competitive until 4-4 in the deciding set.
Both players served well early on, and Cristian locked the result at 2-2 with a service winner. Tsitsipas grabbed the fifth game after deuces and held at 15 in the seventh for 4-3.
Stefanos Tsitsipas prevailed over Cristian Garin in Miami.
The Greek stepped in on the return in game eight and forced the opponent's mistake to secure the first break of serve and open a 5-3 gap.
Stefanos served for set in game nine and cracked a forehand winner to bring it home 6-3 after 35 minutes. Garin served well in the second set and kept the pressure on the other side. Stefanos faced three break chances in the second game and denied them with good hitting to remain on the positive side.
The Greek fired a forehand winner in the sixth game to lock the result at 3-3, hoping for a break that would have pushed him closer to the finish line. Instead, Garin held at love in game nine with a forehand winner and gained confidence.
The Chilean cracked a backhand winner in the tenth game and created three set points. Cristian went for a serve & volley combo and seized the first to wrap up the set and introduce a decider after an hour and 15 minutes.
Garin saved two break points in the opening game and overcame two deuces at 1-1 to stay in contention. The eighth game reached deuces, and Tsitsipas remained calm to bring it home with a volley winner at the net and level the score at 4-4.
Garin hit a double fault on a game point in game nine and missed a backhand to experience a break point. Cristian netted another backhand to hand the break to Stefanos, who served for the victory at 5-4. The Greek earned two match points with a service winner and seized the first with an ace to emerge at the top and pass a challenging obstacle.