\n
\n\tMIAMI GARDENS, Florida: Britain\u2019s Jack Draper, the winner at Indian Wells, came back down to earth with a bump on Saturday, beaten by 54th ranked Czech Jakub Mensik in his opening match at the Miami Open.<\/p>\n
\n\tDraper moved into the top 10 of the world rankings for the first time in his career with his triumph over Holger Rune in the Indian Wells final last Sunday, having beaten Carlos Alcaraz in the last four.<\/p>\n
\n\tBut the 19-year old Mensik rose to the occasion, winning two tie-breaks to enjoy a 7-6 (7\/2) 7-6 (7\/3) win.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt was tough, obviously I came up against someone today who was playing incredibly well,\u201d said Draper.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cHe served 10 out of 10, I couldn\u2019t get a read or a look on his serve at all. There were some things I could do better and obviously a big change in surface from last week,\u201d he said, noting he had struggled to adjust to the faster courts.<\/p>\n
\n\tRune was caught out, too, falling 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7\/5) to American Reilly Opelka.<\/p>\n
\n\tTop seed Alexander Zverev eased into the third round with a 6-2 6-4 win over Britain\u2019s Jacob Fearnley.<\/p>\n
\n\tZverev\u2019s title hopes received a boost on Friday when second-seed Carlos Alcaraz crashed out with a shock defeat to Belgian veteran David Goffin.<\/p>\n
\n\tWith no Jannik Sinner while the Italian serves a doping ban, the German Zverev\u2019s main challenger, on paper, should be Novak Djokovic.<\/p>\n
\n\tZverev lost his opening game at Indian Wells but looked sharp on his debut on the South Florida stadium court.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019m generally happy with my level today,\u201d said Zverev, a 2018 Miami finalist. \u201cIn Indian Wells it was very different, so I hope I can continue playing this way and have a great week here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe 27-year-old took 74 minutes to take care of business against Fearnley and said his extra time off as a result of his surprise defeat to Tallon Griekspoor had been valuable.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cHad two weeks time to practice and work on my game again and I did that \u2014 hopefully this is the first of many matches for me here,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\n\tThere was an upset for 13th seeded American Ben Shelton, who was knocked out by 20-year-old wildcard Coleman Wong of Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
\n\tWong, 128th in the world, battled his way to a 7-6 (7\/3) 2-6, 7-6 (7\/5) victory despite letting a slip a 5-2 lead in the final set.<\/p>\n
\n\tHis victory provides him with a place in the third round of a Masters 1000 for the first time in his career.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI always trust myself to play in these big stages… I had a tough time (during) the COVID times. I didn\u2019t play for a year and a half and I\u2019m really lucky my team keeps supporting me. I\u2019m really happy and this is for you Hong Kong,\u201d said Wong.<\/p>\n
\n\tBrazilian 18-year-old Joao Fonseca delighted his large and loud group of supporters with another energetic display as he knocked out 19th seed Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-3 and reach the third round at a Masters 1000 for the first time.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn the women\u2019s draw, top seed Aryna Sabalenka moved into the fourth round after Romanian opponent Elena-Gabriela Ruse had to retire after the Belarusian won the first set 6-1.<\/p>\n
\n\tRuse received medical treatment on her right thigh but was unable to continue.<\/p>\n
\n\tThird seed Coco Gauff progressed with a 6-2, 6-4 win over a struggling Maria Sakkari, who has slumped down the rankings from the top 10 to her current 51st.<\/p>\n
\n\tNaomi Osaka met some determined resistance from American wild card Hailey Baptiste before emerging with a 7-6 (8\/6), 3-6, 6-4 win.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cToday was an emotional day for me,\u201d said Osaka. \u201cI\u2019m a little embarrassed for how much I threw my racquet, which is something that I don\u2019t like to be known for.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tOns Jabeur of Tunisia also retired allowing sixth-seed Jasmine Paolini to go through \u2014 the Italian was 4-3 and a break up in the first when Jabeur could no longer continue due to a left leg injury.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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MIAMI GARDENS, Florida: Britain\u2019s Jack Draper, the winner at Indian Wells, came back down to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5799,5800,199,3597,5797,3985,5798],"class_list":["post-54861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-calf","tag-croatia","tag-france","tag-match","tag-midfielder","tag-problem","tag-rabiot"],"yoast_head":"\n
France midfielder Rabiot has a calf problem and could miss Croatia match - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2594498\/sport\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"France midfielder Rabiot has a calf problem and could miss Croatia match\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2594498\/sport\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-22T14:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/4585243-543797646.avif\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"371\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"France midfielder Rabiot has a calf problem and could miss Croatia match - 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