The top-ranked British players Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans, who lost in the second round of the Miami Open are now due to fall down the world tennis standings.
Gregoire Barrere of France, who is ranked 65 in the world, defeated British No. 1 Norrie, who is ranked 12th in the world, 6-3, 6-2, while Italian Lorenzo Sonego defeated 23rd-seeded Evans, who was rated 30 places higher, 6-4 3-6 2-6.
In both the men’s and women’s draws this past Saturday, a handful of seeds lost their spots in the competition. The greatest disaster was women’s sixth seed Coco Gauff, who was defeated by Russian Anastasia Potapova. Alex de Minaur and Matteo Berrettini also dropped out.
Australian De Minaur, the 15th seed, was humiliated by Frenchman Quentin Halys, the world’s 79th-ranked player, in three agonizing sets of score: 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-3) and 7-6 (10-8).
Italian Berrettini, seeded 19, lost to American Mackenzie McDonald 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (7-5) in a very tight match.
Barrere, Norrie’s opponent, will play Christopher Eubanks after the American who is ranked 119th in the world, defeated the 17th-seeded Borna Coric of Croatia, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, to earn his largest career victory.
The 14th-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus lost to Magda Linette of Poland 7-6 (7-3) 2-6 6-4. Fourth seed Daniil Medvedev, who lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the Indian Wells final last week, defeated Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena 6-1, 6-2.
Hubert Hurkacz, the eighth seed from Poland, defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis, the eighth seed from Australia, 6-7 (12-10) 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (8-6), in a match that lasted three and a half hours. Meanwhile, Frances Tiafoe, the 12th seed, rallied from a set down to defeat Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki, 6-7 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.
Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, the fifth seed, advanced after defeating Brazilian Thiago Monteiro in two tie-breaks, and Jessica Pegula of the United States, the third seed, defeated fellow American Danielle Collins 6-1 7-6 (7-0).
Elena Rybakina, the recent Indian Wells winner from Kazakhstan, maintained her excellent form by defeating Paula Badosa of Spain with a score of 3-6 7-5 6-3 after saving a match point in the second set.
Richard Gasquet of France withdrew due to an injury, which gave Stefanos Tsitsipas, the men’s second seed, a walkover.
