Every player wants to win a big title in their career and Tommy Paul is one of them.
In one of the interviews with the ATP Tour, the 25-year-old expressed his desire to win an ATP 1000 trophy, ideally this year. At the 2023 Miami Open, he'll have a shot at doing so as he advanced already to the fourth round of the tournament.
After beating Marc-Andrea Huesler in the second round, the American took on Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who defeated his fellow compatriot Brandon Nakashima in the previous round. The Spaniard played well at Indian Wells, reaching the quarterfinals there.
The first set started very calmly, with both players holding their service comfortably. While Paul lost only two points in his first three service games, his opponent lost none in the first two.
However, it was the Spaniard who faced a break point first, as Paul pushed him to the wall in the sixth game. The American used his only chance and broke to lead 4-2 in the opening set.
Yet, Davidovich Fokina was able to immediately brake back, but he wasn't able to keep things even for a very long time. In the eighth game, he lost a 40-0 lead, and Paul marched towards a 6-3 win in the first set.
In the second set, the home crowd favourite started with a streak of eight consecutive points won and led 2-0. Paul had a chance to increase his lead even further, but after he didn't use his break points, Davidovich Fokina broke back to level the score at three games all.
For a moment it seemed that the second set will have to be decided by a tie-break, but Paul increased the intensity in the eleventh game to get a break and win the match 6-3, 7-5 in an hour and 34 minutes. Up next, he will take on the winner of the match between the world no. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and Dusan Lajovic.
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