Balls have been flying thick and fast in Miami over the last week, with the Sunshine Double racing to its conclusion in Florida. If you weren’t able to catch all the action over the last seven days, then read on. I breakdown all the top stories from the tennis world, including key results, off-court dramas and a peak at what’s coming up.
Last week’s tennis results
Results are often a little slow in the first week of the 12-day Masters format, given matches start mid-week and the big names open with a bye. But the last week in Miami has produced some big results, so much so that I found it tough to trim the following list down to a manageable size. Here are some of the top upsets of the week:
- Sebastian Korda beat Carlos Alcaraz 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 (R3)
- Magda Linette beat Iga Swiatek, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 (R2)
- Martin Landaluce beat Karen Khachanov, 6-3, 7-6(2) (R3)
- Matteo Berrettini beat Alexander Bublik, 6-4, 6-4 (R2)
- Arthur Fils beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-0, 6-1 (R3)
- Alexander Shevchenko beat Ben Shelton, 6-7(3), 7-6(3), 6-3 (R2)
- Hailey Baptiste beat Elina Svitolina, 6-3, 7-5 (R3)
- Talia Gibson beat Iva Jovic, 6-2, 6-2 (R3)
The two big results here are Sebastian Korda knocking out Alcaraz in the third round, and Linette snapping Swiatek’s opening-match win streak.
I watched Korda vs Alcaraz, and I can tell you one thing: I did not expect this result. Korda is a fantastic striker of the ball, who on his day, looks to be a top-10 player. However, leading by a set and a break, the American served for the match in the second set. The occasion proved to be too big for him – Alcaraz won something like 11 of the next 12 points and level the match at a set apiece. I assumed that was that and began double screening – but lo and behold, Korda went back to the well and found it in himself to win the third after that disappointment.
For Swiatek, the Pole was on a 73-match win streak in her opening round matches of events. She raced through set one against Linette, but then the errors began flowing thick and fast as she crashed out. “I stopped doing anything well tactically,” she said afterwards. “It just was a bad match for me in the second and third sets. Unconsciously, or consciously, it’s hard for me to say. I need to work to get back from that, because I haven’t felt things like that for like five years.”
ATP teens stand up
Plenty of teenagers have performed on the WTA Tour recently, but last week saw the ATP Tour have its fair share stand up with the male teens having a glut of strong results.
17-year-old Moises Kouame picked up his first Masters 1000 level victory, beating Zachary Svajda in three sets. Rafael Jodar came through qualifying and won his first two matches over Yannick Hanfmann and Aleksandar Vukic. Darwin Blanch and Rei Sakamoto also bagged wins, beating Jan-Lennard Struff and Aleksandar Kovacevic in their openers. Brazil’s Joao Fonseca wasn’t able to upset Alcaraz, but he did make the second round and push the Spaniard in two tight, high-quality sets.
Shout out to Landaluce as well. The 20-year-old is no longer a teen, but he too got through qualifying and finds himself in the round of 16 against Korda now, thanks to back-to-back top-20 wins over Luciano Darderi and Karen Khachanov.
Star-struck Kouame
Speaking of Kouame, the Frenchman confessed a funny moment on the Tennis Channel after his win in Miami, saying that he’d received a text from Novak Djokovic and didn’t know what to reply.
“I have a small secret,” he said. “After the win, Novak texted me. I’m so nervous. I don’t know what to answer. I’m really so nervous right now. I don’t know if I’m going to answer.
“Imagine having your idol DM you like this. Oh my god. It’s too much for me. Oh my god.”
Wrong bag for Pegula
Jessica Pegula has been on a tear in 2026, winning 18 of her 21 matches so far this year. All that winning must be taking up a lot of her mental capacity, however, because yesterday she made the kind of blunder I don’t think I’ve ever seen before on a tennis court… She turned up to her match with another player’s bag!
Osorio x Siniakova ending
On a less humorous note, fans were left bewildered by Katerina Sinakova’s reaction at the end of her match against Camila Osorio.
The Czech lost 6-1, 6-4 and slipped over while attempting a return on match point that she missed. Osorio – who is largely viewed as one of the nicest players on the WTA Tour – came over to her side of the net to help her up. Sinikova then sprung to her feet, gave a curt hand tap, and stormed off the court, leaving Osorio confused.
What do you think: was Siniakova being rude, or was she just trying to rush off and cover up her emotions at the loss?
Moutet and Collins beef
You’d be forgiven for thinking this next story belongs more in Secret Lives of Mormon Wives than on a tennis website.
World No 33 Corentin Moutet and former world No 7 Danielle Collins have had a public spat over who hit on who and unfollowed who on social media. Speaking on the Tennis Channel, Collins claimed she’d rejected some of Moutet’s advances – both in person and online – saying he wasn’t tall enough and his shots weren’t big enough, which caused him to unfollow her.
Moutet reshared the video, claiming he never followed her in the first place, and she’d actually been the one soliciting him to play mixed doubles.
Coming up this week
This time next week we should have more to talk about than the love lives of Moutet and Collins, thankfully. It’s business time in Miami, with both events playing down to a winner by Sunday. That’ll also mark the end of the hard court tennis season, as action shifts to clay and then grass over coming months.
