Tsitsipas eases past Garin to reach the last 16 in Miami

Greek second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas has beaten Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the fourth round of the Miami Open.

The Greek had a first-round bye and a walkover win in the second round when Richard Gasquet was injured.

“It has almost felt like a vacation this past week, staying in Miami. I glad I got started. It was a difficult match against an opponent who has played good tennis against good opponents in the past,” said Tsitsipas.

Tsitsipas has not been on the court much in recent weeks – he withdrew from Acapulco due to a shoulder injury and was beaten in the opening round in Indian Wells.

The rest has helped Tsitsipas recover a little from his injury, and although he was not at his sharpest, he did enough to book his place in the fourth round against Karen Khachanov.

Tsitsipas broke at 4-4 in the third set to ensure his progress against the Chilean, who enjoyed plenty of support from the South Florida crowd.

“I am just going to enjoy this victory. It has been a difficult road to healing in the past few weeks, but I am happy that things are improving,” he said.

Up next for Tsitsipas will be Russian 14th seed Karen Khachanov, who advanced to the round of 16 with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Czech Jiri Lehecka earlier on Monday.

Tsitsipas has a 6-0 record in head-to-head meetings against Khachanov, with their most recent coming at the Australian Open semi-finals in January, where the Greek prevailed in four sets to reach his first Melbourne final.