Nick Kyrgios entered the Miami Masters with a wild card, with no one wishing to face him in the opening rounds. The 5th seed Andrey Rublev drew the Aussie and met him in his first match. Rublev had a deep run in Indian Wells and could not repeat that in Florida, as Kyrgios destroyed him 6-3, 6-0 in 52 minutes!
Nick served at 80% and defended two out of three break points. Andrey struggled to find the first serve and gave over half the points in his games. The Russian faced seven break points and got broken five times to propel the rival into the third round in no time.
Despite knee issues, the Aussie took charge from the middle of the opening set and rattled off seven straight games to sail into the next round. Nick fired 25 service winners and built a massive advantage in the shortest range up to four strokes.
He had 20 winners and eight unforced errors, leaving a top-10 rival far behind in the second set.
Nick Kyrgios lost only three games against Andrey Rublev in Miami.
Kyrgios made a convincing start and held at love in the encounter’s opening game.
Rublev followed that pace with a service winner in game two and reached deuce on the return in the next one after forcing Kyrgios’ mistake. Nick faced a break point and denied it with a forehand winner right after the serve.
Andrey created the second break chance and converted it with a forehand down the line winner at the net for an early advantage. Rublev played a terrible forehand in the fourth game and faced two break points. The Russian hit a double fault on the first to lose serve and bring the rival back to 2-2.
Kyrgios did not look good during the break after the fifth game, holding his knee but continuing with the duel. The Aussie created break chances in the sixth game and seized the first after the Russian’s loose forehand to open a 4-2 advantage.
Andrey held at 15 in game eight to prolong the set before Nick blasted an ace down the T line at 5-3 to wrap up the opener in 27 minutes! Kyrgios placed a sharp return and forced the rival’s mistake on the third break chance at the start of the second set for an early advantage.
Nick fended off a break point in game two and closed it with a service winner for 2-0. Kyrgios grabbed another break in game three, with Rublev smashing his racquet in anger. Nick moved 4-0 up with an unreturned serve and clinched another break with a forehand down the line return winner that propelled him 5-0 in front.
Andrey saved match points with fine hitting in game six before Nick converted the fourth with a volley winner at the net, securing a bagel and storming into the next round.
