the Rosary Frederick Coria fell this Thursday against the Czech ascendant Jiri Lehecka by 6-3 and 6-4 and was eliminated in the first round of the Miami Tennis Masters 1000, which is played in parallel between the ATP and the WTA, and which will later see the presence of Tomás Martín Etcheverry de La Plata.

“Fefo” Coria, born in Rosario, in the province of Santa Fe, and ranked 67th in the ATP world rankings, appeared on court number 1 of the Hard Rock Stadium complex against the young promising Czech Lehecka (44 years old), 21 years old, who passed him after 1 hour and 4 minutes of play.

The Argentinian couldn’t control the power and efficiency of Lehecka, who clearly won the game with just one break per set, both of which were taken early in the set.

For his part, Tomás Martín Etcheverry (73) from La Plata will make his debut not before 6:00 p.m. on court number 7 against the Russian Pavel Katov (117), out of the classification, and, if he passes it, he will have to face another Russian tennis player, Karen Khachanov (16), except from the opening round.

Two other Argentines, Guido Pella and Facundo Bagnis, settled in the second round on Wednesday after winning their respective debuts.

The first two Argentines to qualify for the second round of the #MiamiOpen@guido_pella | @facubagnispic.twitter.com/CH5E1841za

— Argentine Tennis Association (@AATenis) March 22, 2023

Pella (581), born in Bahía Blanca, beat Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas (88) 1-6, 6-3 and 6-2, and his next rival will be Canadian Denis Shapovalov (30), excluded from participating in the first round.

For his part, Facundo Bagnis (100), beat Brazilian Felipe Meligeni Alves (164), from the classification, 6-3, 1-6 and 6-4, to claim his first victory at the Masters 1000 in Miami.

The 33-year-old Armstrong, Santa Fe-born tennis player will play his next match against heavy favorite for the title, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz (1), who will go straight into the second round.

The competition also has three other Argentines: Francisco Cerúndolo, Sebastián Báez and Diego Schwartzman, the three excluded from the initial round.

“Fran”, the eldest of the Cerúndolo brothers and Argentine number one since his 31st place in the world rankings, will start his participation against the winner of the cross between the Spaniard Jaume Munar (66) and the American Aleksandar Kovacevic (102), a tennis player dropped out of the ranking.

THANKS @BNPPARIBASOPEN
Happy with the week and finding myself with good feelings on the ground.
We are still in Miami 🫡💪 pic.twitter.com/gdVfb7OCxC

—Francisco Cerundolo (@FranCerundolo) March 15, 2023

For Cerúndolo, 24, Miami is a very important tournament as he will defend the points he scored last year when he advanced to the semi-finals in a strong performance.

Báez (33), also exempted from the initial round, will face the winner of the match between the American Marcos Girón (71) and the Chilean Cristian Garín (82), from the “qualy”.

The other who will skip the first round, “Little” Schwartzman (38), will face the Chinese Yibing Wu (64), who yesterday beat the Briton Kyle Edmund (544) 7-5, 7-5.

The Miami Masters 1000, on a cement surface and with prizes of $10,156,105, has been held since 2019 in its new setting, Hard Rock Stadium, where the Miami Dolphins, one of the NFL’s main teams, are based. , in Miami Gardens, Florida.

The big favorites are the Murcian Alcaraz and among the ladies the Kazakh Elena Rybakina (7), champion Sunday in Indian Wells, and the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (2), finalist of the tournament disputed in the Californian desert.

For her part, the world number one and defending champion, Poland’s Iga Swiatek, announced yesterday her withdrawal from the tournament due to injury.

On the men’s side, 19-year-old Alcaraz regained world number one last Sunday after winning the Indian Wells Masters 1000, after winning the final against Russian Daniil Medvedev (5) 6-3 and 6-2, this conquest allowed him to move the Serbian Novak Djokovic (2).

Anyway, If Alcaraz is not crowned champion in Miami, he will lose the points of last year and “Nole” will recover the top of the world ranking.