RICKY DIMON REPORTS FROM THE MIAMI OPEN TENNIS 2016 – RAFA NADAL WINS IN DOUBLES WITH VERDASCO, TWO TOUGH LEFTIES AND ISTOMIN / HERBERT ADVANCE IN SINGLES AND MORE

Written by: Staff on 24th March 2016

RICKY DIMON REPORTS FROM THE MIAMI OPEN TENNIS 2016 - RAFA NADAL WINS IN DOUBLES WITH VERDASCO, TWO TOUGH LEFTIES AND ISTOMIN / HERBERT ADVANCE IN SINGLES AND MORE

epa05229682 Borna Coric of Croatia in action against Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan during a match at the Miami Open tennis tournament on Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida, USA, 24 March 2016. EPA/ERIK S. LESSER |

Photo by @miamiopen via Instagram.

Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco won their opening match at the Miami Open on Thursday evening, beating Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4. Nadal and Verdasco needed one hour and nine minutes to set up a showdown against the American duo of John Isner and Nicholas Monroe.

The all-Spanish pairing took control with a service break at 2-2 in the first set when Nadal chose to return on the deuce point and started it nicely with a stellar backhand return. The Spaniards broke again at 5-3 to finish off the opening frame of play in style.

Bolelli and Seppi appeared to be on their way out after donating serve at 0-1 in the second. Out of nowhere, however, Verdasco stumbled through the following service game with a flurry of errors and one double-fault to let the Italians back in the match. Bolelli soon found himself serving to stay in the match at 4-5, at which point another deuce situation ensued. Verdasco got a shot at it this time and sent back a strong return that induced a match-ending error.

Isner and Monroe pulled off an upset in an all-North American showdown against Jack Sock and Vasek Pospisil. The former UGA Bulldog and UNC Tar Heel saved 11 of 12 break points on their way to a 7-6(3), 6-3 victory. Sock and Pospisil, who finished runner-up in Indian Wells, won a horrendous 60 percent of the points when they put their first serves in the court.

As the first round of singles action wrapped up, Denis Istomin produced a shocking comeback at the expense of Borna Coric. Istomin had not won a single match all season long and it looked like more of the same would continue when Coric served for the match at 5-4 in the second set. The 19-year-old Croat twice came within two points of victory, at 30-15 and 30-30 at 5-4. But Istomin broke back to stay alive and then broke again to force a third.

Borna Coric of Croatia in action against Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan during a match at the Miami Open tennis tournament on Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida, USA, 24 March 2016. EPA/ERIK S. LESSER

It was soon Coric’s turn to battle back from a break deficit, which the world No. 46 did at 1-3. A streak of holds brought the proceedings to a 6-5 Istomin advantage and Coric buckled under the pressure when he served to stay in the match for a second time. Istomin broke at love to clinch a 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 triumph after two hours and 45 minutes.

Among those joining the Uzbek in round two were Tim Smyczek, Andrey Kuznetsov, Denis Kudla, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and Aljaz Bedene.

Herbert has made an impressively quick turnaround on the heels of Indian Wells to find plenty of success in Miami. The Frenchman, who teamed up with Nicolas Mahut to win the doubles title in the desert, won a pair of qualifying matches to get into the Miami main draw before defeating Lukas Rosol 7-5, 6-4.