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If Monday evening marked Christopher Eubanks’ breakthrough, Tuesday evening took it to the next level.

“Ain’t no crying,” Eubanks said as he walked into the media mixed zone inside Hard Rock Stadium with a big smile on his face.

The American had just battled past Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 7-6(2), 7-6(5) in a rain-delayed two hours and 11 minutes to reach the quarter-finals of the Miami Open presented by Itau.

“It feels good, it feels good. Just like yesterday felt good, this feels great,” Eubanks said. “Just something about all of the delays and the stopping, the starting, the warming up and cooling down and warming up, it makes a match like this even sweeter and to think it was for my first Masters 1000 quarter-final is really, really special. It feels great, it feels good right now.”

[BREAK POINT]

Chad Johnson, a legendary NFL wide receiver who has also been known as 'Chad Ochocinco', is quickly becoming a tennis nut. The former Cincinnati Bengal standout and New York Mets star Francisco Lindor met with Carlos Alcaraz after the Spaniard's fourth-round win at the Miami Open presented by Itau on Tuesday against Tommy Paul.

Johnson, who has made multiple visits to the tournament this fortnight, spoke to ATPTour.com about his relationship with Christopher Eubanks, Alcaraz's game and more.

What made you interested in tennis?
My daughter is taking tennis lessons. She’s seven years old, she’s taking tennis lessons and I didn’t ignore it, but I had to take her to tennis lessons one day. I get there, she’s hitting the ball. I can’t sit still, so I grab a racquet and I start hitting the ball and now I’m taking lessons three times a week. I’m stuck in the game.

She goes to lessons… I’m taking my own lessons with another coach. Now I’m into it and want to get good at it. I’ll never be great obviously. But I can’t sit still, so I’ve been taking lessons. I’ve been taking it really seriously along with boxing.

I know Chris [Eubanks]. I asked Chris, I want to come out to the Miami Open, I know you’re here, I’d love to meet you, and that’s how everything started.

Taylor Fritz enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2022, winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells and qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. The American has picked up this year where he left off.

The 25-year-old helped lead the United States to the United Cup title and is now 20-5 on the season. After defeating Holger Rune on Tuesday to reach the Miami Open presented by Itau quarter-finals, he climbed to sixth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. Next up will be defending champion and World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz

ATPTour.com caught up with Fritz’s coach, Michael Russell, about his consistently improving level, what people do not know about the American and more.

Taylor had an amazing year in 2022 and it would have been easy for him to potentially struggle a little bit this year after that breakthrough. But he seems very within himself at that level this year. How do you see it?
It’s been great. A lot of times that freshman year breaking into the Top 10 sometimes the expectation and even self-doubt can sometimes creep in. But Taylor’s always had that self confidence.

He’s got a great team around him as well that helps remind him how good he is and we continue to work on everything and continue to progress and not get complacent. That’s a big part of it. You set the goals and you set Top 10, set Top 5, but you have to keep changing those goals and creating goals, even individual tournament goals, ranking goals and most importantly, process goals. Just improving your game.

Jannik Sinner is playing some of the best tennis of his career in 2023. The 21-year-old is 19-4 on the year and three of his four losses have come against Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

According to Tennis Insights, the statistics back up his win-loss record. The Italian has not just been winning, but has been doing so with top-tier quality.

Across ATP Tour events in 2023, Sinner’s Shot Quality has ranked second for the forehand, backhand and return. Shot Quality is calculated in real time by analysing each shot's speed, spin, depth, width, and the impact it has on the opponent.

Only Novak Djokovic’s forehand, Borna Coric’s backhand and Daniil Medvedev’s return Shot Qualities have been better. Sinner is the only player in the Top 3 for all three strokes.

Forehand Shot Quality (2023)

The first two semi-final spots at the Miami Open presented by Itau are up for grabs on Wednesday in South Florida.

Top seed Carlos Alcaraz will continue his quest for the ‘Sunshine Double’ against American Taylor Fritz, while Jannik Sinner aims to reach consecutive ATP Masters 1000 semi-finals when he takes on Emil Ruusuvuori.

ATPTour.com previews the quarter-final matchups from the top half of the draw in South Florida.

View Schedule | View Draw

[ATP APP]

A pair of former champions, Stan Wawrinka and Fabio Fognini, have been awarded wild cards for the 2023 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

The clay-court ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Monaco, to be held from 9-16 April, announced on Tuesday that it will welcome back former World No. 3 Wawrinka for a 12th main-draw appearance at the Monte-Carlo Country Club. The Swiss defeated his countryman Roger Federer to lift the trophy in 2014 and also reached the semi-finals in 2009 at an event where he holds a 21-11 record.

? Wild Cards for the singles main draw

1️⃣ @fabiofogna ?? 2019 Champion

2️⃣ @stanwawrinka ?? 2014 Champion

3️⃣ @jackdraper0 ?? fast rising 21-years-old, world No.43

4️⃣ @val_vacherot ?? top ranked Monaco Player#RolexMonteCarloMasters pic.twitter.com/Q0gs8v06HW

The nine-time tour-level titlist Fognini enjoyed his victory moment in Monaco in 2019, when he took out Alexander Zverev and 11-time champion Rafael Nadal en route to the trophy.

Two other wild card entrants to the 56-man main draw were announced on Tuesday. Fast-rising 21-year-old Jack Draper, the No. 43 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, will make his Monte Carlo main-draw debut, as will Valentin Vacherot. The World No. 322 Vacherot is the No. 1 Monegasque player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Karen Khachanov ended his victory drought against Top 10 opponents in style on Tuesday at the Miami Open presented by Itau, where the World No. 16 downed Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6(4), 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

Khachanov entered the match with an 0-6 ATP Head2Head record against Tsitsipas but produced a confident display full of clean groundstrokes off both wings on Grandstand. The second-seeded Greek never found his best level as Khachanov’s high-energy performance snapped a 23-match losing streak against players in the Top 10 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Khachanov’s run to his maiden quarter-final in Miami has lifted him two spots to No. 14 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The 26-year-old’s next opponent at Hard Rock Stadium will be 25th seed Francisco Cerundolo or Lorenzo Sonego.

More to follow…

Carlos Alcaraz’s red-hot run shows no sign of cooling.

The defending champion produced another ruthless performance at the Miami Open presented by Itau Tuesday, when he dispatched American Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-4 to earn his ninth consecutive win.

Competing in front of a vocal crowd inside Hard Rock Stadium, the Spaniard brought fans to their feet with his electric shotmaking, producing drop shots, clean volleys and an array of bruising winners to triumph after one hour and 36 minutes.

"I feel at home here. It is easy to play here in Miami with all the energy I receive every day," Alcaraz said. "I am enjoying myself and I think that is the key to playing at such a high level every match. I hope to keep going."

Alcaraz is aiming to become the youngest player to win the ‘Sunshine Double’ this week after lifting his third ATP Masters 1000 crown in Indian Wells earlier this month. The 19-year-old, who needs to capture his third title of the season in Miami to remain at No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, will continue his quest against World No. 10 Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals.

Perseverance paid off for Austin Krajicek and Nicolas Mahut on Tuesday at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

Despite letting slip two match points in the second set of their quarter-final clash against Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, Krajicek and Mahut stuck to their task to seal a 6-3, 6-7(8), 10-7 win at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

[ATP APP]

The American-French pairing had trailed 5/7 in the decider but claimed the final five points of the match to extend their dream run in their first tour-level event as a team. Krajicek and Mahut’s first serves proved key to their triumph, with the unseeded duo sending down seven aces and winning 84 per cent (38/45) of points behind their first serves.

Krajicek and Mahut, who are competing together this week because Krajicek's usual partner, Ivan Dodig, is out with an injury, will take on Kevin Krawietz and Fabrice Martin or home favourites Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton in the semi-finals in Florida.

Taylor Fritz reached the quarter-finals at Miami Open presented by Itau for the first time on Tuesday, overcoming Holger Rune 6-3, 6-4 in the first Top 10 clash at this year’s event.

The American, who had never been beyond the fourth round in six previous appearances in South Florida, was dialled in from ball one inside Hard Rock Stadium. He combined fierce power with consistency to outlast World No. 8 Rune in their first ATP Head2Head meeting.

Fritz drove the ball down the middle of the court to cut off angles for the Dane and stepped forward at crucial times, striking 19 winners throughout the 85-minute clash. He has now earned three straight-sets victories this fortnight, having also defeated Emilio Nava and Denis Shapovalov.

"I couldn't play aggressively in my first two matches because my opponents were hitting every ball as hard as they could. [Rune] still crushes the ball but it was nice to feel I had some more time," Fritz said. "The first two rounds, it was impossible to play my game, I just had to make balls. Today when I got the chance to be aggressive I was and I just wanted to serve well and try not to give him many free points."

The World No. 10 holds a 20-5 record on the season, highlighted by his title run in Delray Beach. He will aim to reach his third ATP Masters 1000 semi-final when he plays top seed Carlos Alcaraz or countryman Tommy Paul in the last eight.

After starting the 2023 Miami Open presented by Itau with two straight-sets victories, Jannik Sinner ramped up his title bid further on Tuesday by dismantling sixth seed Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-4 at the hard-court ATP Masters 1000 event.

Sinner delivered a stunning all-round performance in his 72-minute quarter-final victory and was especially prolific in return games on Grandstand. The 21-year-old struck the ball cleanly off both wings and converted three of the five break points he earned to improve his ATP Head2Head record against Rublev to 3-2.

Sinner has now reached at least the quarter-finals on all three of his main-draw appearances in Miami. The 21-year-old, who reached his only previous Masters 1000 final in Florida in 2021, will play 26th seed Botic van de Zandschulp or Emil Ruusuvuori in the last eight.

More to follow…

French football hero Kylian Mbappe was born on 20 December 1998. Twenty-six months earlier another French athlete from Bondy, Quentin Halys, was born in the same hospital.

Although Halys might not have the profile of Mbappe, he is making a mark of his own in the tennis world. The 26-year-old is playing the best tennis of his career and shows no signs of slowing his ascent.

“It’s so cool. Playing now at the Masters 1000s and the Grand Slams, it’s such a dream,” Halys told ATPTour.com. “Maybe today I’m not enjoying it as much as I should because I’m focused and I want to win, so my goal is to realise I’m playing the best tournaments and to enjoy it even more.”

The Frenchman on Tuesday evening will play red-hot Daniil Medvedev for a place in the Miami Open presented by Itau quarter-finals. Entering the week, he had never won an ATP Masters 1000 main draw match. Halys has come a long way from his days as a young boy who simply enjoyed swinging a racquet around.

“I was just almost every day at the club with a tennis racquet and some balls. I had nothing else to do but play,” Halys said. “But I mean everybody was super happy to play tennis. I think I loved it since the beginning.”

If a picture is worth a thousand words the smile on Christopher Eubanks’ face Monday evening was worth a million.

With the American railing ⅖ in the second-set tie-break of his match against Gregoire Barrere, rain forced the players off the court. When they returned after one hour and 55 minutes, the Frenchman won the first point before Eubanks saved five set points en route to a 6-3, 7-6(7) victory for a place in the fourth round of the Miami Open presented by Itau.

How did it feel?

“Really good. Really good. Really good,” Eubanks repeated to the media in Miami.

But it was more than just a win. It signified a milestone that the 26-year-old had been working towards. Eubanks climbed to No. 96 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, and he is projected to crack the world’s Top 100 for the first time next Monday.

A host of stars are in action on one of the most exciting days of the ATP Tour calendar Tuesday at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

All eight fourth-round matches feature on the schedule at Hard Rock Stadium. In the top half of the draw, Andrey Rublev and Jannik Sinner face off for a fifth chapter of their hard-hitting ATP Head2Head rivalry. World No. 1 and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz takes on home favourite Tommy Paul, and Holger Rune and Taylor Fritz meet in the first all-Top 10 clash of the ATP Masters 1000 event.

In the bottom half, Stefanos Tsitsipas seeks to maintain his perfect record against Karen Khachanov, while Daniil Medvedev takes on surprise package Quentin Halys.

ATPTour.com previews some of the key clashes on an action-packed Day 7 in southern Florida.

View Singles Draw | View Doubles Draw | View Schedule

Matija Pecotic’s run earlier this year in Delray Beach was an early contender for story of the season. The 33-year-old, who works full-time for a real estate investment company, entered the ATP 250 as an alternate in qualifying, reached the main draw and then eliminated former Top 10 star Jack Sock to reach the second round.

The Croatian’s tennis journey is not over yet. Pecotic has committed to the goal of playing 25 tournaments this year, beginning with the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship, where he received a qualifying wild card.

“I feel excited and pretty relaxed for now. I don’t know what my match is going to be like. I think it’s really cool that the tournament decided to give me a wild card. I’m not American, I’m not a junior, I’m not signed with some agency,” Pecotic told ATPTour.com. “I emailed the tournament director a couple of days ago and they were kind of excited to hear from me. They said, ‘We followed your story in Delray’, and for them to give me the wild card, big respect to them. So that’s really cool, I really can’t wait to go there.”

The lefty had accomplished plenty in tennis before becoming a finance titan, climbing as high as No. 206 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in 2015. Now he is excited to give professional tennis another shot.

“I took a couple of days [after Delray Beach] to put things into perspective and asked myself what I wanted to do. I said you know what, too many domino pieces came together for this to be just a giant coincidence,” Pecotic said. “I was looking for a reason to come back to the game and compete again while I still can, and the sequence of events for everything to happen the way it did was like a sign from the tennis gods. The tennis gods have spoken and it’s time to listen, so I’m going to play.”

Emil Ruusuvuori has quickly established himself as a consistent performer on the ATP Tour. The Finnish star, who is No. 43 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, has a powerful baseline game that has propelled him to success.

Off the court, he has plenty of interests, from hockey to music. ATPTour.com caught up with Ruusuvuori before his fourth-round match at the Miami Open presented by Itau against Botic van de Zandschulp.

If you could choose any three people to go to dinner with, who would they be and why?
Let’s put Michael Jordan. This one is pretty tough! Roger [Federer] I never really met. It’s a pity that he stopped too early, so I never got to practise with him or anything, I’ll take him. Then some artist, a big rock star.

How much are you into music?
I can listen to anything, but my dad is really into music and he was a young kid who was playing all the rock classics, Led Zeppelin, stuff like this. I used to listen to it, too.

Which is your favourite band?
Probably Red Hot Chili Peppers is one. I remember the first CD that I ever had was from them. I wish I would [play drums] more because I don’t have them any more. We actually have one set at the summer house, so if I have the chance in the summer to go there maybe once a summer [I enjoy it]. Too little. I should find a way.

Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin continued their impressive season on Monday when they moved past Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

In a dominant serving performance, the Mexican-French team won 92 per cent (33/36) of points behind their first delivery and did not face a break point to advance after 69 minutes.

Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin now hold a 13-6 record as a team this season, highlighted by their run to the title in Marseille and the semi-finals in Indian Wells. They will continue the quest for their second trophy of the year against top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski or Mackenzie McDonald and Botic van de Zandschulp.

[ATP APP]

Fifth seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara also advanced, moving past Alexander Bublik and Miomir Kecmanovic 6-2, 6-2. The British-Finnish pair, who are now 15-4 on the year, will next meet Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow.

Editor's note: This story was translated from ATPTour.com/es

Simply seeing Tommy Paul on the other side of the net on Tuesday at the Miami Open presented by Itau will be a reminder to Carlos Alcaraz of the meteoric rise he has enjoyed since his loss to the American last August in Montreal.

After that tournament, where Alcaraz was one of the top seeds for the first time at an ATP Masters 1000 event, the Spaniard admitted that he had never felt pressure like that day on court against Paul. “I have to be ready to deal with that pressure, to have these kinds of moments and learn to handle them,” he said at the time. But Alcaraz has always been a quick learner.

Despite the fact that only seven months have passed since then, this bump in the road seems to be well behind him. His coach Juan Carlos Ferrero can attest to that.

“I don’t think that Carlos being No. 1 or No. 2 influences him too much in terms of how he approaches matches,” the Spanish coach explained before Tuesday’s tie in Miami. If one person has helped him get to that point, it is the former World No. 1 and 16-time ATP Tour champion.

A surprise semi-finalist in 2022, Francisco Cerundolo is once again bringing his best to the Miami Open presented by Itau.

The 25th-seeded Argentine powered to a 6-2, 7-5 third-round victory against Felix Auger-Aliassime on Monday at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Florida. Cerundolo took control early with some blistering baseline play against the World No. 6 and dug deep in the face of a late Auger-Aliassime resurgence to wrap a one-hour, 44-minute win on Grandstand.

“I’m very happy to be back again in the round of 16 here, in a Masters 1000, here in Miami,” said Cerundolo after his 10th tour-level win of the year. “I’m super happy that I’m playing as well as last year, super happy with my level, and [hope] to keep going.”

The pair had last clashed just two weeks ago in the third round at Indian Wells, where Auger-Aliassime ran out a straight-sets winner. On Monday, Cerundolo expertly used the faster Miami conditions to engineer his revenge, constantly pressuring the fifth seed with a barrage of fizzing forehands.

Even after Auger-Aliassme reclaimed a break to level at 4-4 in the second set, the 24-year-old continued to strike the ball confidently. Cerundolo ended with 12 winners to Auger-Aliassime’s seven and converted four of six break points he earned for his third Top 10 career victory. The Argentine now holds an 8-1 record in Miami, and he will look to improve that further on Tuesday when he takes on 12th seed Frances Tiafoe or Lorenzo Sonego in the fourth round.