Three Americans lose, two advance to Miami Open men’s quarters. Gauff to semis
The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky, as Tuesday began with bright hopes for U.S. tennis with five men in the fourth round of the Miami Open, the first time that had happened in 30 years.
By the end of the night, two American men were left standing and advanced to the quarterfinals — No. 19 seed Frances Tiafoe and No. 22 Boca Raton resident Tommy Paul.
On the women’s side, No. 4 Coco Gauff of Delray Beach, cheered on by her hometown fans, outlasted Belinda Bencic in a three-setter and advanced to her first Miami Open semifinal. She will face Carolina Muchova of the Czech Republic, who beat Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko.
All four of Gauff’s wins this tournament have been in three sets and she has gutted through, despite still dealing with an occasional nerve issue in her left arm, which flared up again in the third set on Tuesday night. She credited her mental strength.
“I think I have to believe that I belong where I am; sometimes I can get imposter syndrome,” Gauff said, smiling. “Even when they were saying my accomplishments on the walk out [onto the court] and during warmups, it doesn’t feel like me. I’m like, `Oh, I actually do have a good career.’ But it doesn’t feel like that sometimes. But the ball doesn’t lie. So, I just have to believe in myself.”
Tiafoe beat Terence Atmane of France 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 and will face world No. 2 Jannik Sinner, who was tested by unseeded American Alex Michelson before prevailing 5-7, 7-6 (7-4).
“It’s great to be consistent, something I’vebeen working on for a lot of years,” Tiafoe said. “It’s great to win matchees every week, especially matches you’re quote, unquote, supposed to win. I want to see my name go through the draw week and and week out.”
Paul needed just over an hour to oust Tomas Martin Echeverry of Argentina in straight sets.
“Very happy to be in my first quarters here, sleeping at home always helps,” said Paul, who was a finalist at the Delray Beach Open in February. “Everyone in the draw is very good, but when you see a guy like Carlos [Alcaraz] go down, I think everyone kind of thinks that part of the draw has somewhat opened up. I’m just focusing on the basics, making the size of the court as small as I can, running down everything and playing simple tennis. Sometimes simple tennis is the best tennis.”
The other three Americans were not as fortunate.
One round after shocking and eliminating world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, Sebastian Korda failed to convert match point in the tiebreaker and lost 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 to a far lesser-known Spaniard, qualifier Martin Landaluce.
Landaluce, 20, entered the tournament ranked No. 151 in the world, the lowest-ranked quarterfinalist at the event since World No. 185 Jim Grabb in 1994. The Spaniard is also the first player born in 2006 or later to advance to the last eight at a Masters 1000 event.
Korda was bothered by back pain starting in the second set, but played through the pain. Afterward, he spoke about his 48-hour emotional roller coaster ride.
“You go from the biggest win that I’ve had to a tough loss, especially with match point,” said a dejected Korda, who was seeded 32. “It’s not easy, but that’s tennis. You can be at the highest of highs and get that taken away from you pretty quickly.”
Now up 48 places to No. 103 in the rankings, Landaluce will next face Jiri Lehecka of Czech Republic, who upset No. 7 Taylor Fritz in three sets, for a spot in the semifinals.
Jiri Lehecka won 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2 to score his first top-10 win since he upset Fritz in the Davis Cup Qualifier in Delray Beach last September.
Lehecka overwhelmed Fritz in the final set with seven of his 10 aces.
“He’s an incredible front-runner,” Fritz said of Lehecka, the No. 21 seed. “Of course, I doubled [faulted] on the last point, but up until that point, it’s an absolute shift in the game he’s playing. I don’t know how he could play better. I’m crushing the ball, and he’s just taking 90 mile-an-hour ground strokes from me and hitting winners.
“He was incredible coming forward. He never really made any mistakes. It does suck because the draw obviously has opened up, but he played better than me. He deserved it. It was an opportunity missed for me.”
Korda, playing on the Grandstand Court, played well for most of the first two sets and built a 6-2, 6-6, 6-5 lead in the tiebreaker.
Serving at match point, he unleashed a body serve, but Landaluce was unfazed, stepping in to hit a clean backhand return across the net to erase Korda’s advantage.
The Spaniard dedicated the win to his late grandmother.
“She [would have been] 101 last week, and she passed away a few months ago. I wanted to give her the victory,” he said.”
As for match point, Landaluce said: “I needed to go for a nice shot, and I hit a winner. It’s a nice feeling to get it like that. All the Spaniards try this. They have that fighting spirit. Ferrero, Ferrer, Nadal, Carlitos… I have been watching that my whole career and I’m here right now, so I had to try it.”
Korda took two medical timeouts to address a lower-back issue in the third set and was never at full strength after that.
“My serve percentage went down a ton, I don’t think I was even close to 120 miles an hour on my serve, it was unfortunate,” Korda said. “I’ve had back problems for a while. My game is built around my serve and when I’m not serving well it makes everything difficult.”
Landaluce first gained attention by winning the 2022 US Open boys’ title at age 16 and he claimed an ATP Challenger trophy in 2024 and 2025. Prior to Miami, he had recorded just two tour-level wins. During this run, he has defeated Marcos Giron and top-20 players Luciano Darderi and Karen Khachanov.
In the later matches, Sinner beat Michelson and Tiafoe entertained the Grandstand Stadium fans with his energy as he won 12 of 16 break points against Atmane. He roared and pumped his fists over and over after match point.
Tiafoe said he was energized by the raucous Miami crowd.
“It’s nice out there [on Grandstand], the general admission fans are great, super excited, getting lit, babies crying, it’s fun,” he said.
Sinner’s celebration on Stadium Court was more subdued, but he was equally happy to reach the quarterfinals. The Italian, who won the Miami Open in 2024, became the third man to reach the quarters in all first five appearances in the event, joining 1980s legends Yannick Noah and Stefan Edberg.
Asked why he has so much success in Miami, Sinner replied: “It’s tough to say, because earlier years when I played here, I played outside and it was very different. There is a lot of breeze and wind at times. Playing inside [Hard Rock Stadium] is slightly easier because it blocks the wind a bit.
“The ball is bouncing quite low, which usually helps me. Also trying to enjoy whatever is off the court, too. Miami has been very, very good to me in the last years and now we’ll see what’s coming.”
Michelson, 21, said he leaves the Miami Open with a boost of confidence, despite the loss.
“If I can go toe to toe with him at a Masters 1000 like this, the guy has barely lost a set in I don’t know how long, so a lot of positives for me, a lot of confidence.”
This story was originally published March 24, 2026 at 5:16 PM.