{"id":99644,"date":"2026-03-17T05:00:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T09:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=99644"},"modified":"2026-03-17T00:48:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T04:48:29","slug":"six-best-round-1-atp-matches-in-miami-including-fabian-marozsan-vs-joao-fonseca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/03\/17\/six-best-round-1-atp-matches-in-miami-including-fabian-marozsan-vs-joao-fonseca\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Best Round 1 ATP Miami Matches Including Fabian Marozsan vs Joao Fonseca"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the ATP main draw in Miami set to get underway on Wednesday, six first-round matches stand out:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Fabian Marozsan vs Joao Fonseca<\/h4>\n

Joao Fonseca\u2019s<\/a> highly anticipated return to Miami will kick off with a clash against Fabian Marozsan in front of what will surely be a raucous crowd. Fonseca is the favorite even without the crowd support, considering his stellar Indian Wells run. Marozsan hasn\u2019t had many wins lately, but he tends to bring out his best tennis unexpectedly, and this could easily be one of those moments. The winner will have an eye-catching second-round match against Carlos Alcaraz.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Ethan Quinn vs Hubert Hurkacz<\/h4>\n

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This matchup looks a little familiar, as Ethan Quinn and Hubert Hurkacz<\/a> just faced off at the Australian Open, where Quinn won in straight sets. This year, Quinn is starting to become a Tour mainstay, and he just picked up a title at the Phoenix Challenger, one of the highest-level Challenger-level tournaments. Despite Quinn\u2019s recent form and head-to-head advantage, Hurkacz can\u2019t be counted out. Hurkacz is a former Miami champion and can always blank an opponent with his serve. Tiebreaks are to be expected in this match, and serve quality may be the deciding factor. In the second round, the winner will take on Casper Ruud.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Denis Shapovalov vs Botic van de Zandschulp<\/h4>\n

Denis Shapovalov<\/a> and Botic van de Zandschulp couldn\u2019t be more opposite in temperament, but both have a tendency for chaotic early-round matches. While van de Zandschulp has a more consistent level, Shapovalov\u2019s peaks are higher\u2014the question with him, as always, is if he can maintain that. This match could have a lot of ups-and-downs, and it’s hard to see this being straightforward for either player. Whoever comes out on top will play Taylor Fritz in the second round.<\/span><\/p>\n

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4. Raphael Collignon vs Grigor Dimitrov<\/h4>\n

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Both Raphael Collignon<\/a> and Grigor Dimitrov<\/a> had a rough draw in Indian Wells, with Collignon unable to overcome Fonseca in the first round and Dimitrov falling to Alcaraz in the second round. A relatively softer draw gives both a chance for a solid Miami run, but this match will be a tough one for either to win. Collignon doesn\u2019t have much main-draw experience, but his upset over Ruud at the US Open showed the level he can play at. Dimitrov has always played good tennis in Miami and looks to be getting back into form, but Collignon is far from an easy out. In the second round, the winner will play Flavio Cobolli.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

5. Alexandre Muller vs Matteo Berrettini<\/h4>\n

Both Alexandre Muller and Matteo Berrettini have struggled with injuries recently and are trying to climb back up the rankings. Berrettini hasn\u2019t had the best start to the season, missing the Australian Open and playing a lackluster Golden Swing, but he had a solid albeit short showing at Indian Wells. Last year in Miami, Berrettini played one of the best matches of the year in his quarterfinal against Fritz and showed that he can be a contender on this surface. Muller hasn\u2019t played since the Australian Open, but last season he proved that he can bring it to top competition. Only one will be able to continue their comeback here, though, and the winner will go up against Alexander Bublik in the second round.<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Kamil Majchrzak vs Miomir Kecmanovic<\/h4>\n

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Coming off of two extremely close losses in a row to Cobolli, Miomir Kecmanovic<\/a> will be hoping to take advantage of a different set of opponents in his Miami draw. One of Kecmanovic\u2019s best-ever matches came in Miami (against Alcaraz in 2022), but Kamil Majchrzak is by no means an easy opponent. Majchrzak has been steadily improving since climbing up the rankings last year, and in Indian Wells he took Novak Djokovic to the brink. Majchrzak also showed his return prowess in Indian Wells when he came back from a break deficit against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, which could cause serious trouble for Kecmanovic. The winner of this match will face Learner Tien in the second round.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the ATP main draw in Miami set to get underway on Wednesday, six first-round matches stand out: 1. Fabian Marozsan vs Joao Fonseca Joao Fonseca\u2019s highly anticipated return to Miami will kick off with a clash against Fabian Marozsan in front of what will surely be a raucous crowd. Fonseca is the favorite even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5769,"featured_media":94770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2,15913],"tags":[13556,18,2777,259,9553,776,18070,18097,411,2916,18636,4367,1694,2760,4359,18766],"class_list":["post-99644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atp","category-featured","category-opinion","tag-alexandre-muller","tag-atp","tag-atp-miami","tag-atp-tour","tag-botic-van-de-zandschulp","tag-denis-shapovalov","tag-ethan-quinn","tag-fabian-marozsan","tag-grigor-dimitrov","tag-hubert-hurkacz","tag-joao-fonseca","tag-kamil-majchrzak","tag-matteo-berrettini","tag-miami-open","tag-miomir-kecmanovic","tag-raphael-collignon"],"modified_by":"Steen Kirby","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5769"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99644"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99664,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99644\/revisions\/99664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}