Gloomy day for American men as sun returns to Miami Open

After two days of rain the sun returned to the Miami Open but it was still a gloomy Saturday for U.S. tennis fans as three of the top four-ranked American men led by 12th seed Taylor Fritz crashed out in the second round.

Joining Fritz at the Hard Rock stadium exit were 13th seed Tommy Paul and 21st-seeded Frances Tiafoe to leave number 16 Ben Shelton as the highest-ranked home grown hope.

After only eight matches were completed on Friday because of rain, the start of play was again delayed by three hours on Saturday before Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild kicked off the action on Stadium court with a 6-3 6-4 upset of Fritz.

With a perfect 10-0 record in opening matches since the start of 2023, Fritz appeared bamboozled by the 24-year-old who enjoyed the support of a small but vocal flag-waving Brazilian crowd.

While Fritz piled up 26 unforced errors and managed a single break opportunity, Seyboth Wild converted three of his five break chances.

The Brazilian also had his serve firing on all cylinders, out acing the big-hitting American 9-2 while a near perfect 23 of 24 in first points won.

"I played a really solid match today, I barely missed," said Wild, who is no stranger to producing upset beating Daniil Medvedev at last year's French Open. "It was exactly the plan with my coach before the match.

"I held up pretty well on the backhand and used my forehand to win the match."

Paul, coming off a run to the semi-finals last weekend at Indian Wells, had looked headed for the third round when he grabbed the opening set 6-4 against fellow American Martin Damm.

Those hopes ended with Damm up 2-1 in the second when Paul appeared to turn his left ankle then hobbling to his bench and retiring.

Tiafoe may be a crowd favourite wherever he plays in the U.S. but the support was not enough help him against Christopher O'Connell, the Australian scratching out 7-5 7-6(5) win.

It was Tiafoe's earliest exit since his first visit to Miami in 2017 bringing the curtain down on a miserable Sunshine Double (Miami Open and Indian Wells) that produced a single win.

One of the many matches suspended on Friday by rain, Denis Shapovalov returned on Saturday to deliver an upset finishing off 10th seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2 6-4.

Leading 2-1 when play was halted, the Canadian had his Greek opponent under constant pressure, piling up 18 break opportunities and converting three while Tsitsipas could not manage a single break chance the entire contest.

Britain's former world number one Andy Murray earned back-to-back victories for the first time this season, closing out his rain hit match with 7-6 (7) 6-3 decision over Argentine Thomas Martin Etcheverry.

After starting the campaign losing the opening contest in his first four tournaments, including the Australian Open, the three-times Grand Slam winner advanced to the second round in his next four events before getting to the third round in Florida.