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Carlos Alcaraz's hunt for the 'Sunshine Double' has ironically been put on hold because of rain.

The World No. 1, who must successfully defend his debut ATP Masters 1000 title in Miami this week to remain atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, had his Wednesday night quarter-final clash with Taylor Fritz postponed due to rain.

Alcaraz and Fritz will now do battle Thursday, alongside two other quarter-finals already scheduled for tomorrow: Daniil Medvedev vs. Christopher Eubanks and former Miami semi-finalist Francisco Cerundolo vs. Karen Khachanov.

Alcaraz, who triumphed at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells earlier this month, has a 17-1 record in 2023.

Editor's Note: This story will be updated with the time of the Alcaraz-Fritz quarter-final when a revised order of play is released.

Not even a two-hour rain delay could stop Jannik Sinner from maintaining a pair of perfect records on Thursday at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

The Italian prevailed 6-3, 6-1in a weather-disrupted quarter-final inside Hard Rock Stadium and he has now won all eight sets he has played at this year’s edition of the hard-court ATP Masters 1000 event in Florida. The 10th seed was victorious in one hour and 15 minutes and improved his ATP Head2Head record against Ruusuvuori to 5-0.

"We both played well today but I won the important points," Sinner said. "It's never easy when you are up and you get interrupted, but I came back and played well."

Most Match Wins In 2023

* Playing Wednesday night in Miami

Does Taylor Fritz eat Hot Pockets before practice when he is home?

“I don’t really want to answer that to be honest!” he said, cracking a laugh.

The American No. 1 answered that question and plenty more in this week’s edition of ATP Uncovered. Grigor Dimitrov, Hubert Hurkacz, John Isner, Tommy Paul and Andrey Rublev all put their reporter’s hat on to come up with a good question for the Top 10 star.

Other questions Fritz’s colleagues posed include:

- Why do people call you 'The Golden Key'?

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has confirmed the host nations for the 2023 Davis Cup Finals Group Stage, while the draw for the Finals Group Stage took place in Malaga on Wednesday afternoon.

The Unipol Arena in Bologna, Italy and the Pabellón Municipal Fuente de San Luis in Valencia, Spain return as host venues for the Group Stage this season after hosting successful events in 2022. Italy, Canada, Sweden and Chile will contest Group A in Bologna, while Spain, Serbia, Czech Republic and Korea, Rep. will contest Group C in Valencia.

Great Britain remains a host nation for 2023, with this year’s event taking place at the AO Arena in Manchester – the first time that the city has hosted Davis Cup action since Great Britain played Romania at the Northern Lawn Tennis Club in July 1994. Great Britain, Australia, France and Switzerland will contest Group B in Manchester.

[ATP APP]

Two-time Davis Cup champion nation Croatia completes the list of 2023 Finals Group Stage host nations, with the host city and arena to be announced in due course. Croatia, Netherlands, USA and Finland will contest Group D.

The Miami Open presented by Itau quarter-finals begin Wednesday in Florida, where the Pepperstone ATP Rankings stakes are high for Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and more of the world’s biggest stars.

Alcaraz, who will play Taylor Fritz in the last eight, must win the title to retain World No. 1 next Monday. Anything less and Novak Djokovic will return to top spot.

The Spaniard returned to World No. 1 after winning the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells for the first time. The 19-year-old, who is the defending champion in Miami, is now three victories from completing the ‘Sunshine Double’.

Former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev also has an opportunity to climb by the end of the week. Currently No. 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, he can pass Casper Ruud and move to World No. 4 if he lifts the trophy.

As recently as last month, Medvedev was World No. 12. But the 27-year-old has won 21 of his past 22 matches, a stretch during which he claimed crowns in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai. He will face first-time ATP Masters 1000 quarter-finalist Christopher Eubanks for a spot in the last four.

Editor's Note: This article was translated from ATPTour.com/es.

Fans of both tennis and motor racing are in their element this week in the Hard Rock Stadium.

When entering the venue for the Miami Open presented by Itau, spectators have to pass through a few sectors of the street circuit where the second Miami Grand Prix will take place on 7 May. This partly explains why Carlos Alcaraz has Formula 1 on his mind. However, the main reason is Spanish driver Fernando Alonso.

“33 --> Soon,” wrote Carlitos on the TV camera after his win over Tommy Paul on Tuesday in the last sixteen of the second Masters 1000 of the year. He explained the meaning of the message in his post-match press conference.

[ATP APP]

The in-form Daniil Medvedev produced a superb serving performance in the early hours of Wednesday morning to see off Quentin Halys and reach the quarter-finals of the 2023 Miami Open presented by Itau.

In a match delayed until after midnight due to rain in South Florida, the fourth seed won 82 per cent (32/39) of points behind his first serve and did not face a break point in his 70-minute victory against the World No. 79. Now into his third consecutive quarter-final in Miami, the 27-year-old will hope to carry his recent red-hot form into his last-eight clash against home favourite Christopher Eubanks.

“I thought it was going to be cancelled,” said Medvedev after producing a clinical performance against Halys after the long rain delay. “I’m pretty happy that I managed to play not so bad, becauset was not easy. I think that’s why Quentin was also missing a lot, because when you play at midnight… You usually sleep at midnight. So trying to play some tennis then [was tough].”

Locked in ?@DaniilMedwed overpowers Quentin Halys to secure the victory 6-4 6-2 ?@MiamiOpen | #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/poWOHDeypx

Medvedev converted the only break point of the first set in the fifth game to move ahead in his maiden ATP Head2Head meeting with Halys, and took further command of the encounter by breaking the Frenchman’s serve again the opening game of the second set. With Medvedev dialled in on serve, the fourth seed ultimately ran out a comfortable winner to improve his record for the 2023 season to 26-3.

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.”