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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.

It was a weekend of comebacks and thrilling championship matches on the ATP Challenger Tour, three of four tournaments were decided in final-set tie-breaks.

Ricardas Berankis and Hugo Grenier survived three-set finals to claim Challenger titles while Alessandro Giannessi fended off a championship point in Zadar, Croatia to win his fourth Challenger crown. In Switzerland, Jurij Rodionov successfully defended his title at the Biel Challenger.

Berankis survived home hope Dan Added in the St. Brieuc Challenger final to win his 14th Challenger title. Despite having two match points in the second set, Berankis was pushed to a decider but ultimately prevailed 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(5) to win the Open Saint-Brieuc Armor Agglomeration.

En route to his first Challenger title since August 2019 (Vancouver), the 32-year-old Berankis ousted top seed Antoine Escoffier in the quarter-finals.

Stefanos Tsitsipas is up and running at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

Competing for the first time this fortnight, the Greek overcame a tough opening test against Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin, prevailing 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the fourth round in Miami for the fourth consecutive year.

The Greek was playing for just the third time in the past month after he withdrew from Acapulco due to a shoulder injury and lost in the opening round in Indian Wells. He then received a first-round bye and a second-round walkover from Richard Gasquet in Miami.

"I was waiting for a very long time to get out and play," Tsitsipas said. "It has almost felt like a vacation this past week, staying in Miami. I glad I got started. It was a difficult match against an opponent who has played good tennis against good opponents in the past.

"I am happy with the way things turned around and my confidence towards the end. I had an eye-on-the-prize attitude and it was effective with how I played in the last game when he was serving."

After a match, most players are fixated on the action. Did they hit a particularly sweet shot? What could they have done better? What did they learn?

After Tommy Paul defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Sunday to reach the fourth round of the Miami Open presented by Itau, the American visited the Tennis Channel set and then sat on a yoga mat on the grass field inside Hard Rock Stadium next to coach Brad Stine and fitness coach Franco Herrero. While conducting a brief interview, Paul was most interested in not his tennis, but a frisbee.

“Oh, wow. Wow! I should have brought that up [on Tennis Channel], oh my god!” Paul said. “We got here and it was like 8:15 in the morning. Brad had a frisbee and Franco walked out onto the field and direct hit to the cheek!”

“I was aiming for him!” Stine joked.

“But he was aiming to him, not at him if you know what I mean,” Paul said, cracking a smile.

Pickleball is a relatively new sport that was invented in the United States in 1965. The sport was created by a man named Joel Pritchard, who was a congressman from Washington State, and his friend Bill Bell, who was a businessman. One day, while at Pritchard's house, the two men were looking for a game to play with their families. They didn't have...

Botic van de Zandschulp claimed the first Top 5 win of his career and extended Casper Ruud's disappointing 2022 season when he rallied from the brink of a double break in the final set to oust the 2022 finalist 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

In a scrappy match in which both players made more than 30 unforced errors, World No. 4 Ruud ultimately paid the price for converting just two of 15 break point opportunities, including one of eight in the final set.

"It was an unbelievable tough match," said van de Zandschulp, the 26th seed. "He had so many chances in the third set. When I broke back for 3-2 I was holding and had a feeling that I had a chance in his service games. At 5-4 I had one opportunity and I took it."

Ruud, who reached Grand Slam finals in Paris and New York last year and the title match of the Nitto ATP Finals, has not won consecutive matches this year. In the final set he led 2-0 and had two break points for a double break. When he handed back the break for 3-all, the Norwegian made two volleying errors.

In the final game a van de Zandschulp dead net cord off a Ruud second serve at deuce brought up match point. Ruud failed to put away a smash and then dumped a high routine forehand volley into the net - perhaps a sign of his low confidence - to seal his own fate.

Jiri Lehecka has taken the ATP Tour by storm over the past four months. After reaching the championship match at the Next Gen ATP Finals, the Czech has sprinted forward with his momentum.

The 21-year-old defeated former World No. 2 Alexander Zverev at the season-opening United Cup and gained momentum from there. Lehecka battled to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, where he upset three current or former Top 10 stars: Felix Auger-Aliassime, Cameron Norrie and Borna Coric.

The son of former professional athletes — father Jiri was a professional swimmer and mother Romana a track-and-field athlete — has the firepower to go blow for blow with some of the best players on Tour.

ATPTour.com caught up with Lehecka in Miami to learn more about his personality off the court.

[BREAK POINT]

While teenage World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz is deservedly commanding the attention of the tennis world, 21-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner is quietly building an impressive season of his own.

In defeating Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 6-4 Sunday night to reach the fourth round of the Miami Open presented by Itau, the former Next Gen ATP Finals champion moved to 18-4 on the season, his fastest start ever to a season.

Beginning with his title run in Montpellier, Sinner has won 14 of his past 16 matches and last week reached the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open before falling to Carlos Alcaraz.

In a match in which both players hit double the number of unforced errors to winners, Sinner's victory was underpinned by his dominance of the second serve of Dimitrov, who won just seven of 26 points that began with his second delivery.

"It's the first time I have played in the evening. I can be very happy with my returning game, especially on second serves, when I tried to be very aggressive," Sinner said. "He's such a talented and intelligent player, so I am very happy about how I played today."

World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev is through to the fourth round in Miami for the loss of just three games following the withdrawal of Alex Molcan from their scheduled third-round match Monday.

Medvedev had a bye in the first round and dismissed Roberto Carballes Baena 6-1, 6-2 in his opening match. On Sunday Molcan withdrew from the tournament with a right hip injury.

Medvedev, who has won 20 of his past 21 matches, will next face the winner of Frenchman Quentin Halys and American Mackenzie McDonald. He is seeded to meet 2021 Miami champion Hubert Hurkacz in the quarter-finals and second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-finals. Should he make it to the final, Medvedev could face a BNP Paribas Open final rematch with World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz.

[ATP APP]

Medvedev has won four of the six ATP Masters 1000 hard court events, triumphing in Cincinnati (2019), Shanghai (2019), Paris/Bercy (2020) and Toronto (2021). Medvedev's runner-up finish in Indian Wells last Sunday leaves Miami as the only hard court Masters 1000 at which he has not reached the final.

Carlos Alcaraz enjoyed a memorable day on and off the court Sunday at the Miami Open presented by Itau. After defeating Dusan Lajovic 6-0, 7-6(5), the World No. 1 enjoyed two meetings with celebrities.

Straight off the court inside Hard Rock Stadium, the 19-year-old caught up with NBA superstar Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat. Butler, who also watched Alcaraz play in Buenos Aires earlier this year, had plenty of praise for the Spaniard.

“He’s always poised. He’s never rattled and more than anything, it looks like he’s having so much fun out there,” Butler told ATPTour.com. “I think whenever you have fun and you have that mentality that you know you’re the best, you go out there and you play as though you’re the best, results happen and he’s not No. 1 for no reason.”

Later on, Alcaraz posed for photographs with Dominican singer Natti Natasha. The defending champion in his press conference explained how “great” it feels to see celebrities enjoy watching him perform.

Natti Natasha and Carlos Alcaraz. Photo: Andrew Eichenholz/ATP Tour
“I feel a little bit nervous when I see a person like Jimmy, celebrities, when I was playing, like in the US Open. For me it's unbelievable,” Alcaraz said. “In certain ways I can't believe that these people enjoy watching my matches for me. It's crazy.”

Austin Krajicek and Nicolas Mahut’s seamless transition from doubles rivals to partners continued Sunday at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

Playing their first tournament as a pair, Krajicek and Mahut defeated Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals at the ATP Master 1000 event. The unseeded duo, which is competing together this week because Krajicek's usual partner, Ivan Dodig, is out with an injury, backed up its first-round upset of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in style on Court 7.

[ATP APP]

Their triumph against Brazil's Matos and Spain's Vega Hernandez was based on a high-class serving performance. Krajicek and Mahut sent down 10 aces, won 81 per cent (30/37) of points behind their first delivery and saved four of five break points they faced in their 90-minute triumph.

It was a 450th tour-level doubles victory for Mahut, who lifted the Miami trophy in 2016 alongside Pierre-Hugues Herbert. He and Krajicek’s next opponents at Hard Rock Stadium will be Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni or Marcelo Melo and John Peers.

The third round draws to a close Monday at the 2023 Miami Open presented by Itau, where a host of top names are in action as they try to extend their run at the second ATP Masters 1000 event of the year.

After a bye and a walkover, respectively, in the opening two rounds, second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas takes to court at Hard Rock Stadium for the first time this year against Cristian Garin. The in-form Daniil Medvedev plays Alex Molcan, while Felix Auger-Aliassime meets 2022 semi-finalist Francisco Cerundolo.

With 2021 champion Hubert Hurkacz and home favourite Frances Tiafoe also in third-round action, ATPTour.com previews an intriguing Day 6 in southern Florida.

View Singles Draw | View Doubles Draw | View Schedule

[ATP APP]

Carlos Alcaraz continued his ‘Sunshine Double’ quest in style Sunday, overcoming Dusan Lajovic 6-0, 7-6(5) to reach the fourth round at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

Arriving off his title run in Indian Wells, the World No. 1 has quickly adapted to the faster conditions in Miami, where he is the defending champion. In a high-quality performance, the top seed overpowered Lajovic with his relentless aggression on return and he demonstrated incredible agility to cover the court and repel attacks from the Serbian.

The Spaniard, who hit 27 winners to Lajovic's eight, recovered from failing to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set against Lajovic, recomposing himself to seal his eighth consecutive straight-sets win on his fourth match point in one hour and 31 minutes.

"I feel fast on court, I am moving well," said Alcaraz, who is now 16-1 on the season. "I am happy with the variety I am playing [with]. Lots of shots. I am enjoying every single second out there."

The 19-year-old needs to lift his fourth ATP Masters 1000 trophy in Miami to prevent Novak Djokovic from replacing him as No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. He will continue his title defence against Tommy Paul.