3rd round
\n MIAMI
\nCarlos Alcaraz picked up a straight-set win at the Miami Open on Friday to keep his world No. 1 ranking over idle Novak Djokovic. Djokovic is not participating in the Miami Open because he still cannot travel to the US as a foreign citizen who is not vaccinated against COVID-19.
\nAlcaraz, who beat Casper Ruud in the 2022 US Open final for his first No. 1 ranking, defeated Facundo Bagnis 6-0, 6-2 to advance to the third round in Miami.
\nRafael Nadal dropped out of the top 10 on Monday for the first time in 18 years. Alcaraz, a 19-year-old from Spain, rose into that spot a day after ending Daniil Medvedev\u2019s 19-match winning streak by beating him in straight sets in the final at Indian Wells, California.
\nRuud, who\u2019s ranked No. 4, won his match against Ilya Ivashka 6-2, 6-3. He\u2019ll face No. 26 Botic van de Zandschulp on Sunday in the third round. No. 1 American and No. 9 seed Taylor Fritz began his tournament campaign with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Emilio Nava. Fritz is 17-1 in his opening rounds of hard court tournaments since the start of 2022, with his only loss coming at the 2022 US Open to No. 303 Brandon Holt.
\nFritz will next face No. 24 Denis Shapovalov, who defeated Guido Pella on Friday. On the women\u2019s side, Bianca Andreescu \u2014 the 2019 US Open champion \u2014 came from a set down to oust No. 7 seed Maria Sakkari 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. Andreescu improved to 2-1 over Sakkari, with both wins coming in Miami.
\nAndreescu will face Sofia Kenin in the third round.
\nNo. 2 Aryna Sabalenka beat Shelby Rogers 6-4, 6-3 and extended her record to 4-0 versus Rogers. Sabalenka will face No. 31 Marie Bouzkova in the third round.
\nNo. 5 Caroline Garcia lost to Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 6-3. Cirstea beat Garcia 10 days ago in the fourth round at Indian Wells, and will face Karol\u00edna Muchova next.
\nIn other action, Varvara Gracheva defeated No. 4 Ons Jabeur 6-2, 6-2; and Jannik Sinner beat Laslo \u00d0ere 6-4, 6-2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
3rd round MIAMI Carlos Alcaraz picked up a straight-set win at the Miami Open on Friday to keep his world No. 1 ranking over idle Novak Djokovic. Djokovic is not participating in the Miami Open because he still cannot travel to the US as a foreign citizen who is not vaccinated against COVID-19. Alcaraz, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-321910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n