Thiem’s struggles continue in Miami, as Sonego reaches second round

Dominic Thiem’s struggles continue to mount in 2023. The Austrian dropped to 1-8 on the season, falling to Italian Lorenzo Sonego, 7-6 (7), 6-2, at the Miami Open on Thursday night.

Former World No.3 Thiem has not won since 2016 in Miami, and he is without a win at the Masters level since May of 2021. The 29-year-old has won just once this season – against Alex Molcan in Buenos Aires – and his losing streak hit five on Thursday as Sonego improved to 2-1 lifetime against the former US Open champion.

The Austrian has lost four consecutive first-round matches for the first time at the Masters 1000 level. He hit 13 winners against 30 unforced errors in the contest.

Sonego, ranked No 59, will play No 23 seed Daniel Evans next. The Italian snapped a personal six-match losing streak at the Masters as he saved a set point in the first set before dominating set two.

“I wanted to be aggressive on the return and I was very aggressive overall today. I’ve wanted to play closer to the baseline this year,” Sonego said. “I like to play in Miami because the conditions are really fast.”

Miami Masters, other first-round results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 8.800.000, most recent results first):

• Thanasi Kokkinakis vs. Zizou Bergs: friday
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Pavel Kotov (Q): 6-2, 6-2
• Gregoire Barrere beat Roman Safiullin (Q): 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
• Thiago Monteiro beat Jason Kubler: 6-4, 7-6 (6)
• Richard Gasquet beat Christopher O’Connell (LL): 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
• Yosuke Watanuki (Q) beat Benoit Paire (Q): 6-4, 7-5
• Mackenzie McDonald beat Daniel Elahi Galan: 6-4, 6-2
• Christopher Eubanks (Q) beat Denis Kudla: 7-6 (2), 6-2
• Roberto Carballes Baena beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles: 6-0, 3-0 ret.
• Alex Molcan beat Jordan Thompson (Q): 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
• Adrian Mannarino beat Juncheng Shang (WC): 1-6, 6-4, 6-2
• Cristian Garin (Q) beat Marcos Giron: 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
• Jiri Lehecka beat Federico Coria: 6-3, 6-4
• Aleksandar Kovacevic (LL) beat Jaume Munar: 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-1
• Quentin Halys beat Pedro Martinez: 6-2, 7-6 (4)
• Emilio Nava (WC) beat John Isner: 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4)
• Ugo Humbert beat Gael Monfils: 3-3 ret.
• Jan-Lennard Struff (Q) beat Fabio Fognini: 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
• Yibing Wu beat Kyle Edmund: 7-5, 7-5
• Emil Ruusuvuori beat Nuno Borges (Q): 6-1, 6-4
• Dusan Lajovic beat Andy Murray: 6-4, 7-5
• Ilya Ivashka beat Daniel Altmaier (Q): 6-2, 6-1
• J.J. Wolf beat Alexander Bublik: 7-5, 6-3
• Alexei Popyrin beat Mikael Ymer: 7-6 (5), 4-4 ret.
• Laslo Djere beat Aleksandar Vukic (Q): 6-2, 7-6 (3)
• Guido Pella beat Juan Pablo Varillas: 1-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Marton Fucsovics beat Pedro Cachin: 6-4, 7-6 (2)
• Facundo Bagnis beat Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves (Q): 6-3, 1-6, 6-4
• Taro Daniel (WC) beat Arthur Rinderknech: 4-1 ret.
• Marc-Andrea Huesler beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas: 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-3
• Brandon Nakashima beat Oscar Otte: 7-6 (3), 6-3