Medvedev reaches 3rd round of Miami Open

Miami, March 29 (IANS): Top seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia needed two tie-breaks over more than two-and-a-half hours to overcome an inspired Alexei Popyrin of Australia 7-6 (3), 6-7 (7), 6-4 in the third round of the Miami Open men's singles.

"It's probably one of the sweetest victories in my career because I was cramping like hell in the third set," Medvedev said, Xinhua news reports.

"At the same time, I should have won in two sets and we would not be talking about cramping. But anyway, we have the result on the board and I'm happy that I managed to go through all the difficulties of this definitely crazy match," added Medvedev, who failed to convert three match points in the second set after taking a 5-2 lead.

Elsewhere, John Isner of the United States defeated Canadian star Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) while seventh seed Roberto Bautista of Spain came from behind against Jan-LennardStruff of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

In women's singles, Japanese star Naomi Osaka advanced to the fourth round for the first time in her career when qualifier Nina Stojanovic of Serbia withdrew with a right thigh injury.

In women's doubles, Chinese players Zhang Shuai and XuYifan lost to Poland's IgaSwiatek and US player BethanieMattek-Sands in the round of 16.